Fullmetal Alchemist and the Crimson Stone
by Tattoo Alchemist
Summary: Edward Elric has gotten a solid lead on the Philosopher's Stone, but the lead takes him to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he will make great friends and encounter deadly creatures, but will it be worth it for the stone?
1. The Solid Lead

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal**** Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 1: The Solid Lead**

****

"Let's go! Get a move on, Al!" Edward Elric called out to his little brother as he stepped off the train in Central's station.

"Ed!" Alphonse Elric called as he stepped down from the train, "Slow down! There's no need to hurry!"

"Indeed," the largely muscular Major Alex Louis Armstrong agreed with Al, "The library isn't going anywhere."

"Ha!" Edward laughed at his companions, "You're all a bunch of slow pokes!"

Standing next to the armor-clad Alphonse Elric, Major Armstrong sighed, "He's acting like a child."

Alphonse gave the major a slightly sharp look.

"Oh…" He said apologizing for his sharp comment, "I beg your pardon, he _is _a child."

"It's okay…" Alphonse said as his gaze looked to the cement floor, he wondered about his brothers mental state. Even though Ed had a smile on his face Al thought back to all the very recent events and fresh memories in New Heissgart. Everything…Professor Wilhelm Eiselstein…Gretta Ridel…the battle chimeras…the Philosopher's Catalyst…and…Armony. It really was so much to deal with, despite everything that they've been through, there were still some things that stayed with them, like battle scars that refuse to heal.

Al had looked up from the concrete to his brother, and saw that he was on a collision with another person.

He called to him, "Ed look out!"

Unfortunately, it was too late for Ed had already ran into the other person and sent the flowers that they were carrying all over the concrete platform.

Witnessing the event, Al sighed, "Ed, can you go _anywhere_ without plowing into people?"

"Are you okay?" Ed had asked as he looked over at a flower girl

"Yes, I…" The flower girl said, she then looked around to the batch of flowers that were spread all around her and Ed.

Ed looked down at the flowers and began to scramble to get them back together. As he was gathering the last few flowers off the concrete ground, his brother and the major were approaching.

"So sorry…" Al had apologized to the flower girl.

"That's okay, I'm alright," The flower girl smiled

Ed had the flowers gathered in his hands and held them out to the flower girl.

"Here you go," He smiled, "I really am sorry…"

He was about to finish but he was rendered speechless when he looked into the face of the flower girl that was only a foot away from him. She wore a simple dress an orange kerchief over her head, the wicker basket that once held the flowers, but her face. It was so young, with red hair that was long as it came out from under the orange kerchief, a pair of brown eyes that held all the innocence of the world in one simple solitary gaze.

"Oh, thank you," she said to Ed.

While Edward's gaze turned down to the concrete once again, the memories of Heissgart flooding back over him. He just wanted nothing more than to weep, no matter what anyone else thought, the pain was so much that it seems impossible that any human should bear such sorrows. Yet, at the same time, the flower girl was so much like her…like Armony…with that Ed wanted to throw his arms around the flower girl and weep onto her shoulder wishing against all wishes that Armony had come back. Still, he sat there on the platform, his body trembling from wave after wave of memory of the girl that was his apprentice.

"Um…" The flower girl uttered, "Are you going to be okay?"

"Me?" Ed sat up and smiled, "Never been better! Let's get going, Al!"

With that, Edward Elric sped off down the platform to the front entrance.

"Wait Ed!" Al called before he turned to the flower girl and said, "Bye…"

Al took off after his brother with Major Armstrong following behind. Al had caught up with his brother and knew something wasn't right, because Al noticed too that the flower girl looked like Armony and he had to be sure of his brother.

"Is something the matter, Ed?" Al has asked.

"No, nothing," Ed told his brother trying to sound convincing that nothing was wrong, but there was. In the end, Ed had to do what he always said: _move forward_. He reached the entrance of Central's train station and called out, "Central, here we come!"

"Um…Ed," Alphonse said to his brother, "You do realize we need to report to Colonel Mustang with our report on what happened."

"He's right, Edward," Major Armstrong added, "you need to fill him in on what happened prior to our arrival in Heissgart."

Ed's shoulders slumped, "Thanks for being kill joys."

"You know the drill, Ed," Al had told him like a parent saying _I told you so._

"Yeah, I know, Al," Ed sighed, "Well, let's go get this over with."

Ed, Al, and Major Armstrong headed to Central Headquarters, but Ed had his shoulders slumping knowing full well that Colonel Roy Mustang was going to start his own sarcastic banter on Ed about the events in Heissgart, as if he wasn't miserable enough already.

The walk from Central's train station to Roy Mustang's office in Central Headquarters was a long one, both in distance as well as in mental preparation. To Edward, he really understood what it must be like for a kid to be sent to the principal's office. By the time that he had arrived at the door to Mustang's office, Major Armstrong had already left to make his report as well. The only person at his side at that door was Alphonse, but he knew the drill. While Ed was talking with Colonel Mustang, he was to just wait outside until he came back.

Edward reached out his gloved auto-mail hand and tapped the office door.

"Come in," Roy Mustang's voice called out.

Ed reached down and opened the door and walked up to Colonel Mustang's desk with his shoulders slumped and his head held low. He knew the office too well to look up and avoid hitting the other desks in the room. His head was still held low when his vision saw Roy Mustang move in his chair.

"You're looking morose, Fullmetal," Colonel Mustang observed.

"I know what you're going to tell me about my actions in Heissgart so let's get it over with," Ed stated like a condemned man cursing his executioner.

"There's no need to be spiteful, Fullmetal," Colonel Mustang stated sounding as arrogant as ever, "besides, I'm glad you came to me first. It saved me the trouble of calling you."

Edward looked up from his condemned state and looked to the Colonel rather suspiciously, "Why's that?" He asked.

"I have a solid lead for you about the Philosopher's Stone."

"You do?" Ed asked, with all the worries fading away like clouds passing by to let the sunshine through.

"Right here," Mustang held up a thick folder, "You see in a far away country called England, there's a man named Nicholas Flamel, who is known there for being the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone. He's been using it to create an elixir that makes him immortal."  
"The stone can do that?" Ed asked feeling very confused, "None of the books I read mentioned that."

"That's what our intelligence states, Fullmetal. IT also states that this year he turned six-hundred and sixty-nine and his wife Pernelle turned six-hundred and sixty-two."

"That's impossible…" Edward wheezed.

"It is true according to our man there," Colonel Mustang continued, "he also reported that Flamel had sent the stone to a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry called Hogwarts."

"A school?" Ed sneered, "It must have been discovered them."

"Not exactly," Mustang corrected, "The stone was destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Ed asked as his heart sank and his shoulders slumped again, "So much for the _solid lead_."

"Now, now, Fullmetal, I'm not that cruel," Colonel Mustang stated as he continued, "What is suspicious is that after the stone was destroyed, Flamel said that he had enough elixir to get his affairs in order before he died. That was nearly four years ago, so I think you get what I mean."

"That he's created another stone?" Ed had asked

"That's our conclusion," Mustang nodded, "Our intelligence also found that Flamel had a journal that contained the formula for the Philosopher's Stone and since he hid the stone at this Hogwarts school he also hid the book there."

"Pretty sloppy methods," Ed smirked.

"I'm not so sure," Mustang shrugged, "otherwise the book would have been found by now, which is why I'm giving this case to you. Your mission is to go to England find the book and find out what Flamel is really up to."

"I'll leave right away, sir!" Ed smiled.

"Not so fast," Colonel Mustang halted the boy, "You'll need to take extra care with this one. Since Flamel hid the book at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry you're going to be going in undercover as a student. We've notified the school that you're an exchange student from our Alchemy Academy."

"Alchemy Academy?" Ed giggled, "We have no such thing here."

They don't know that," Colonel Mustang smirked, "All the information you need about the Wizarding World is in this folder, you'll be leaving on a train heading for a port in about one hour and the best will leave at five o'clock today. You'll also need to take out five gold bars from the Alchemy reserve and use it for a currency exchange."

"Anything else, sir?" Ed asked

"Yes, you'll need to leave Alphonse Elric behind," Colonel Mustang added.

"What!" Ed shouted, "Why?"

"This is strictly an undercover search and recovery operation, Fullmetal Alchemist. You'll need to keep a low profile," Colonel Mustang explained, "If you walk around the school with your brothers soul in a suit of armor, they'll start asking questions that may blow your cover. However, there will be an agent of ours who will be there to keep an eye on you to make sure you stay out of big trouble."

"Don't trust me do you?" Ed asked sarcastically.

"No, it's not so much that as that it's more of a question of having someone fill in for Al since he's kept you out of a lot of trouble in the past."

"I see,"

"Everything else that you need to know is in this file," Colonel Mustang finished as he handed the file over to Edward Elric, he then pulled out his watch, "You'll have time to say good-bye to your brother at the station. Send weekly reports about the investigation, and good luck, Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Are you sure that you're alright with this, Al?" Ed had asked of his little brother, as the two of them sat on a bench together waiting for the train.

"You know that I'm not alright with it, Ed," Alphonse had told Ed, "But this is the first real lead that we've had on the Philosopher's Stone and if it means you going alone this once then I have to be willing to go along with that. Just promise me one thing, brother."

"What's that, Al?" Ed asked fearful of what his brother may ask of him.

"Don't die while you're in England," Al had asked

"Heh," Ed smiled, "Don't worry, Al. It's a school, what could possibly happen in a school?"

"I wouldn't be so sure," Al added, "I had heard stories of this Hogwarts place, they say that the unexpected can happen anywhere at anytime."

"It's a school of magic, Al." Ed continued to smile, "We both know there's no such thing as magic, it's probably just kids stuff there. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"If you say so brother," Al shrugged, "But just be careful around that place."

The trains whistle started to blow as it came into the station ready to take on passengers for its departure to the next town. Ed looked to the train and then to his brother knowing that it'd be the last time that he'd see him. What truly tore his heart out about it was that he didn't know how long he would be gone in the first place. He looked back up at his brother remembering what he told him.

"I'll be careful, Al," Ed had reassured him, "I'll be sure to send letters as often as possible."

"Good luck in finding the stone, Ed." Al told his brother.

"Thanks, Al." Ed smiled as he got up off the bench, lifted the suitcase with the gold bars in it, and boarded the train. The moment he got on he went to find a seat where he could see his brother one last time. His luck had come through for him; he had found a vacant seat near the window that faced the bench. He sat down with this suitcase between his legs as he watched his brother waving good-bye to him from that bench where they said their last good-bye. As his brother waved Edward Elric raised his won hand to the window while he felt the jerk of the train all around him as it pulled out of the station.

As the train left the station, Al still stood nearby the bench watching the train grow smaller in the distance. However, he was not alone as the train departed, approaching from behind and out from behind a corner was Colonel Roy Mustang, who accompanied by Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye and Major Alex Louis Armstrong.

"You already miss him, don't you, Alphonse?" Lieutenant Hawkeye asked.

"Of course, I do," Al answered, "But I couldn't ask him to turn down this lead."

"I wouldn't worry about him," Colonel Mustang stated arrogantly.

"Why do you say that, sir?" Major Armstrong asked.

"I say that because a very good state alchemist is going to keep a close eye on him at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Do you mean?" Lieutenant Hawkeye asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Oh yes," Colonel Mustang smiled with his own blend of arrogant confidence, "I do mean _him._"

"Who sir?" Al asked curious of who they were talking about.

"Come with us and we'll tell you." Colonel Mustang invited the younger Elric brother.

Meanwhile, on the train that was heading for the port, Edward Elric was already pouring through the pages and pages of reports about the world of Wizards in England. His head was swirling in the information that he had to take in about it. All of it seemed utterly impossible that such things existed, but the information was there in black and white, clear as crystal that these things, people, and places did exist and at the same time were so well hidden that nobody had discovered it. Even the reports about the school seemed unbelievable at the very least, but first was the Philosopher's Stone, that one seemed to take greater priority because Ed was more concerned about that then any of the other nonsensical events. Dealing with the other elements in the wizard world will just be a matter of jumping through hoops, similar to how Ed became a state alchemist in order to accomplish his search for the Philosopher's stone.

He had to admit that he was excited because the answer about the stone would soon be drawing close.

"It'll be three days until I get to England," Ed thought to himself, "Today is August 23rd, I'll arrive there on August 26th, and the train for the school leaves September 1st. That'll give me five days to get the supplies for this school."

He looked down at his gloved right hand remembering all too well the story behind that auto-mail arm and his left leg as well. Thinking about it, he wondered about if he would have to explain it to those wizard people.

"I'll deal with it when I get there," He thought as he looked out the window to the passing scenery and the approaching ocean and dock.

To be continued…


	2. Hidden Alley

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal**** Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 2: Hidden Alley**

The journey did take as long as Ed had predicted, three days by boat. Though, it wasn't so bad since he was given his own cabin that had a window, but not that there was anything to look at except sky and ocean. All Ed could do was eat, sleep, and review the file of Wizard England. So, when the day came, he couldn't wait to get off the ship, but even then getting into the city of London was an undertaking in itself on Edward's part.

The city of London was vast to the state alchemist, not even the city of Central was that enormous and bustling with activity, not just on the streets full of cars but on the sidewalks filled with people trying to get from their point A to their point B. He couldn't believe his own eyes when he looked around at the buildings to see both their age and sheer height. He truly did feel dwarfed not just by the buildings but by the people crowing around him when he left the port.

"No time to be a tourist," Ed thought, "Gotta find this Leaky Cauldron."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper with the address of the Leaky Cauldron written upon it. It was also a damn good thing that the agent wrote the report also wrote down necessary directions from the port to the Leaky Cauldron. It was also a good thing that he was in no rush to get there because from the look of the length of directions that Ed had, it'd probably take him a day to get there. An so, Edward Elric headed off from the port and trekked his way through the city of London, occasionally looking up at the buildings and monuments around him.

"This place is incredible, isn't it Al?" Ed asked as he turned to his left expecting his brother to be there, he looked right and couldn't find him. He then had to remind himself that he came to this place alone. Thinking about it, he never felt so alone in his whole life. The reality of it truly sunk in on him and that made him stop in his tracks at the street corner where the pedestrians were trying to walk across. Edward started to miss his brother all the more until someone gave him a slight shove and asked in a very gruff voice:

"Hey, yer gonna cross er not?"

Ed turned around and was facing the person's stomach that was wearing some kind of vest made out of thick hair. Ed quickly looked up to the bristly haired face of the owner of that deep gruff voice. Ed already felt smaller just by looking at this…_man._

"Wha're ya lookin' at?" The tall man asked rather peeved, "yer gonna cross the street? People ar goin' ahead a ya."

Ed turned and saw the people moving ahead and dashed along with them. At the time he wasn't sure if it was because he was in a rush or if it was because he wanted to see how tall that man was. He was already across the street and he saw that tall bristly beard man and he felt panicked as he saw that he was taller than the other pedestrians. He then saw that the giant was crossing the street and so he turned and continued on his way.

"That is so unfair," Ed silently pouted, "Everyone in this country must be descended from giants."

He took his mind off the giant by looking back to his directions to see how much closer he was to the Leaky Cauldron. He looked to the street names and he looked up at the street signs and he saw that he had arrived at the spot where the pub was located. He looked back at the paper and then back around the place he was at.

"It should be around here," He uttered to himself hoping that the answer would present itself.

"Yer lost?" A large and gruff voice asked

Ed turned and looked up to find that same bristly haired giant, at first he wondered if he was being followed but he decided to ask about the place that he was looking for.

"Yeah," Ed answered, "I'm looking for the Leaky Cauldron."  
"Why ya lookin' fer the Leaky Caulron?" the giant asked

"I'm looking for this place called Diagon Alley," Ed answered.

"Ah, yer must be a Hogwarts Student."

"Who are you?" Ed inquired of the giant.

"Name's Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Ground at Hogwarts."

How could Ed forget something like that? He remembered in the report it mentioned a giant of a man named Hagrid who was the grounds keeper and the Care for Magical Creatures at Hogwarts. Ed knew that he was tall but he never thought he'd be _this huge._

"Ya must be a first year," Hagrid smiled down at Ed, "I'll never ferget when I wa eleven and was a first yer at Hogwarts."

"I'm not eleven years old!" Ed snapped at the giant, "What're you gonna call me next? A super-hyper-small-midget-sized-chibi that you need a magnifying glass to look at?"

"Woah, calm down," Hagrid said sounding panicked, "Didna mean te offend ya, but let's get inside and I'll show ya in ta Diagon Alley."

Hagrid took off across the street and even though Ed was still peeved at the giant, he decided to follow for the purpose of the mission. He dashed behind Hagrid and to his great surprise someone as tall and as wide as him was able to squeeze through such a narrow doorway. It was one that Ed had no problem with whatsoever and then his eyes were greeted by another slew of surprises in the Leaky Cauldron.

Inside, Ed saw that the place was dimly lit and the place looked old, not a few years or a few decades, it looked like it had been that way for _centuries._ Even the people, they were dressed in different colored robes and wore hats that seemed to give that hint that everyone there was a witch or wizard. Ed was so taken aback by this that he forgot that he was following Hagrid, he found the back of the giant and ran, side-stepped, and ducked his way to catch up to him.

He followed Hagrid to a closed off alleyway in the back of the Leaky Cauldron where there were a few trash cans. He watched as Hagrid took his umbrella and tapped one of the bricks. To his great disbelief that coupled with his astonishment, he watched the brick wall start to move within itself as if the wall was performing alchemy upon itself to create a new passageway.

"Here it is," Hagrid said, "Diagon Alley."

Even though it was the place Ed was coming to he didn't hear Hagrid's words, he was wondering about the bricks in the wall. None of it made sense, none, when he performed alchemy on a wall it just made a new door, but…what Hagrid did, it was as if the bricks moved into nothing. He didn't notice the annoyed Hagrid turn to him, but he did hear him ask very annoyed;

"Oy, this is where yer wanted to go, right?" He asked

Ed turned sharply and looked out the alleyway not truly taking in what was there as he answered, "Yes, this is the place."

He held onto his suitcase and walked through the passageway to Diagon Alley.

"I'll see yer at Hogwarts…" Hagrid trailed, but then asked, "Yer didn't tell me yer name."

Ed turned back and gave his name, "Edward Elric."

"See yer at school, Ed," Hagrid smiled as he went his separate way into the crowd of Diagon Alley.

After Hagrid left his company Ed felt free to gaze at what was in Diagon Alley. Of course, it was all in the report but as always, reading about something and actually seeing it are two different experiences. He saw the alley in all its wondrous glory, shops on each side selling things that Edwad Elric had never laid eyes upon before. Such as one strange shop that looked like it was selling sports equipment yet the mannequins in the window inside were on broomsticks.

Ed shook himself back to the matter at hand.

"First, money," He thought as he pulled out another list, a to-do list, "First…Grin…Grin…Gringotts Bank…_who comes up with these names around here?"_

He headed down through Diagon Alley until he found Grinngotts Bank to find it being worked by short ugly little creatures that the report referred to as "Goblins". He managed to exchange the gold he had in his suitcase for the wizard money. The total for all five bars came to a total of 5,000 gold galleons. Ed wasn't sure if it was enough but he crossed his fingers and hoped for the best. He walked out of the bank with his suitcase a little lighter but his pocket a little heavier with the sack of gold coins in it.

The first thing he felt that he needed for all of the stuff on the list was a trunk, and luckily there was a store that sold plenty of them, even magical trunks that looked small on the outside but were spacious on the inside. Ed just needed a regular one, though tempting as it was, but he didn't exactly want to complicate matters with a magical trunk. So with a normal red trunk with wheels on the bottom, and his name written on the outside of it, Ed set about his task on his list.

The next was the books, which the store Flouris and Blotts was more than ready to give him his stack of books and he read that he'd be what was called a "fourth year", he told the store that and they gave him the books needed for about 75 gold galleons.

While he was at Magical Menagerie he was given the last owl that they had in the store. A small brown little owl that must have been no bigger than a pigeon and the store owner said that the birds name was "Tweety".

As Ed held the birds' cage and just looked at it he thought to himself, "Somebody must be getting a laugh out of this one."

Then again, there were instances where mentioning about size were rather unavoidable. The first instance was at Madam Malkin's, he was going there to get his school robes. It was while he was being measured, Madam Malkin had asked the fatally stupid question about Edward Elric.

"Aren't you a little short for a fourth year?" She asked

Ed's blood boiled instantly.

"WHO YOU CALLIN' A MOUSY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK!" Ed snapped loudly.

"Calm down, sir!" The panicked Madam Malkin asked of the perturbed Edward Elric.

Even though it was difficult to calm down, he had to remember what Colonly Mustang had told him:

_Keep a low profile, Fullmetal_.

Leaving Madam Malkin's, the trunk that Ed was pulling behind him felt heavier with the books, cauldron, clothes, and the attached cage for his owl, Tweety. He was secretly thanking God that he only had one last item to purchase on his list: a wand. He had to admit to himself that when he had heard that he needed a wand he had to say to himself, _You've__ gotta be kidding me!_ Still, it was all to find the Philosopher's Stone and he was more than willing to jump through the hoops.

He headed down Diagon Alley to where the last shop on his list was located; Olivanders. The place was located at the end of the alley as if all paths lead to it. Going inside, Ed already had his own preconceived notions of a wand. He thought of the ones that are seen in fairy tales, the kind where the wand had a star at the end and was something that no guy would be caught dead with. How wrong Edward Elric would be. The outdoor sign read, _Olivanders__; Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C._, while in the window a single wand was on a faded purple cushion. The wand looked more like a wooden stick with a finely crafted handle than the notion that Ed had of wands.

Entering the shop, the place felt like the library in Central to Ed, there was that scent like paper and dust in the air, while the shelves all had narrow boxes like a shoe store.

"Good afternoon, sir," a soft voice called to Ed.

The young alchemist turned to see an old man with a wide and pale eyes that were as bright as the lamps themselves.

"Hello," Ed answered back, "I'm here to buy a wand."

"Of course you are," The man (that Ed assumed was named Olivander) smiled at Ed, "You must be a new Hogwarts student."

For some reason, Ed felt the need to start a conversation, "I'm an exchange student actually, my school teaches alchemy and I've been sent here to learn magic."

"Alchemy?" Olivander asked as he pulled out a tape measure with silver markings on it, "You should be a powerful young wizard to practice alchemy. Now, which hand is your wand hand."  
"Wand hand?" Ed asked

"Which do you favor?"

"My right," Ed answered and with that Mister Olivander began to measure Ed's arm.

"Ah, yes," Olivander nodded as he looked at his tape, he draped it over his shoulder, and went to one of the boxes on the shelves, "I…believe…that there is a wand just right for you…um…I'm sorry I never got your name."

"Edward," Ed answered, "Edward Elric."

"You see, Mister Elric, no one ever _chooses_ a wand, the wand _chooses the wizard_ and no two wands I've ever sold are the same. Ah! Here we go!"

His dainty fingers carefully pulled out one of the many narrow boxes from the shelf as if it was a piece from a jenga set. He opened it up and held the box out to Ed.

"Eight inches Mahogany with Phoenix Feather," Olivander stated to Ed.

Ed looked into the box to see a wand made out of that deeply brown wood, Mahogany, with a handle finely polished. He reached into the box with his gloved hand and holding it in his auto-mail grip, he had the oddest sensation. Even though his auto-mail limb had no nerves in it whatsoever, he felt something warm as if he had his own flesh and blood arm for that single instant.

"Peculiar indeed," Olivander observed.

"What is?" Ed asked

"Every wand I've sold to every wizard required a great deal of trial and error to find just the right one, Mister Elric," Olivander explained, "it is peculiar that the right wand was the first one to be found."

Ed didn't know how to take such a peculiarity, but he really didn't care that much about it because he was an alchemist, such things of magic are inconsequential to him. In fact, it seemed downright juvenile to him, still Edward Elric was one to continually forget that he is still a boy. It's usually an adult who brings this fact to him.

The wand was eight galleons and three sickles, which Ed gladly paid because he wasn't at all sure if he wanted to stay in Mr. Olivander's company for very long. Still, the bright side to it all was that Ed had gotten the supplies that the report had called for.

All he needed to do was to find a place to stay for the next few days until he would need to head for Kin's Cross Station. He tugged the heavy trunk behind him still hoping that this case wasn't going to be a while goose chase like all the other leads before it.

In the bustle of the witches and wizards of Diagon Alley, Ed couldn't help but be just a tiny bit curious about the prospects of this school that he was going to, what sorts of things would he find there that the report didn't mention? All good questions that would be answered in due time.

To Be Continued…


	3. A New and Old World

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 3: A New and Old World**

The last four days that Ed spent were uneventful to say the least. He had taken lodging at the Leaky Cauldron and spent the days reading the textbooks that he bought. All of them seemed farfetched at the very least, things like levitation, transfiguration, divination, and so on, the closest subject that was like alchemy was potions. Potions had rules and conditions, a drop of this, touch of that, and a cup of the other then it would produce a portion for a specific use.

It didn't help the four day long wait with the owl Tweety always wanting out of its cage. Even if the little bird came back after flying for nearly a whole day, it wasn't long until Ed was awakened by the thing wanting to be let out.

"I'm not sure if I should take this as a good sign or a bad one," Ed commented to himself as he put the restless owl back into the cage.

The day had come and Edward Elric was already at King's Cross Station with his trunk and owls cage behind him looking for the entrance to Platform 9 3/4. It was a good thing that the station had carts (or trolleys) otherwise pulling his trunk around would have been a colossal pain in the ass.

He stopped between Platform 9 and 10 and was still looking for this supposed barrier. Until he saw a group of people pass him by and they were gathering at a nearby wall between the platforms. He watched as they made a dash to the wall and instead of crashing, they vanished into the wall.

"That's it," Ed told himself as he got behind the crowd who were running through the wall. He waited until there was that silent acknowledgement that it was his turn or that everyone else had gone. A few of the people in front of him were silently asking him to go ahead of them and wasting no time he made his dash to the wall. He thought that if it worked for them, it should work for him, and he was right for he pushed through the wall and came out the other side to another train platform. His eyes went wide when he saw a scarlet red train that was packed with people, while parents were saying goodbye to their children. Ed looked up to see the sign that read "Hogwarts Express – Eleven O'clock", he looked behind him where he thought the solid wall was and he saw a wrought-iron gate with a sign above it saying "Platform 9 ¾".

"This'll be a case to end all cases," Ed said to himself as he made his way to the ticket booth.

After getting his ticket, Edward Elric made his way past the crowd of parents and students before getting onto the train. Before getting on, a man dressed in a uniform offered to take his trunk and owl cage, which was fine by Ed since he didn't want to hear the birds screeching and pecking. He got onto the train and searched for an empty seat. It was the first thing that struck him about the train, there were no cars with wooden seats, each car had cabins like the first class cars that Ed was used to not getting into. He found the nearest empty cabin and with the man behind him, he got his trunk into the cabin and stowed away his luggage.

After the uniformed porter left, Ed sat back down against the window looking out on the platform at all the students saying good-bye to their parents. Ed turned his head so that he couldn't look at them, seeing the students and their parents like that only reminded Ed further about what he left back in his home country. That was when he reached into his pocket and pulled out his state alchemist pocket watch. Opening it he looked to the engraving inside it,

_Don't forget 3.Oct.10_

He closed his fist around it remembering why he's doing all this. He felt so alone once again, but as the feeling came over him, the door to his cabin opened. He turned and saw three young teenagers. The one who opened the door was a rather mousey looking girl with bushy brown hair, accompanying her were two boys, one had tattered robes and wavy red hair, and the other had untidy black hair and green eyes behind round lens glasses.

"Excuse us," the young girl asked, "mind if we share your cabin? Everyone else is full."

"Sure," Ed shrugged as he slipped his watch back into his pocket.

The young teenagers took to getting to their seats while Ed simply propped his face onto his hand and looked out the window feeling tired from not being able to sleep because of that wretched bird.

"We should introduce ourselves," The girl –who was now sitting across from Ed- said with a great kind and bossy tone to her voice, "I'm Hermione Granger."

"I'm Ron Weasley," the red haired boy smiled, who was sitting next to Hermoine.

"And I'm Harry Potter," the dark hair and green eye boy said as he took his seat next to Ed.

Ed got his face up off his hand and extended the courtesy, "My name's Edward Elric."

Hermione and Ron looked at each other and then back at Ed who was looking back at them very curiously as if he had missed something.

"What is it?" Ed asked them.

"You're quite possibly the first person who hasn't asked if he's _the Harry Potter."_ Hermione explained

Edward turned to look at Harry and looking at him he couldn't help but notice the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Looking at it, he suddenly felt something that he couldn't explain completely, it was as if he knew this boy or at least had a connection to him on some fundamental level. Perhaps the scar was like his arm and leg, the two of them were marked, but Ed had to ask a very pertinent question.

"What makes him _the_ Harry Potter?" Ed had asked.

"You've never heard of him?" Ron asked sounding shocked.

"It's okay, Ron," Harry interrupted, before turning to Ed, "I think it's refreshing that someone at Hogwarts doesn't know about my history."

Ed turned away from them and looked out the window seeing the waving parents passing by as the train began to move out of the station. It was no sooner that the train left the station that Hermione had to ask a question that she'd soon regret.

"Are you a first year, Edward?" she asked

Ed's blood instantly boiled.

"WHO YOU CALLIN' A MOUSEY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK!" Ed bellowed

"Calm down!" Hermione bellowed back, "I didn't mean it like that."

"…bloody hell…" Ron exhaled at the scene that he witnessed.

"If you must know, I'm a fourth year exchange student from the Alchemy Academy in Amestris."

"Never heard of that place," Hermione said

"Finally!" Ron cheered as if he had won a bet, "Something Hermoine doesn't know anything about!"

"Oh, don't gloat, Ron," Hermoine back talked, she turned back to Ed, "If you're new to Hogwarts, you'll need to be sorted."

"Sorted?" Ed asked

"In Hogwarts there are four houses," Hermione explained, "Each named after the four founders of the school. There are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The three of us are in Gryffindor."

"How does it work?" Ed asked trying to sound interested by this nonsense.

"You'll find that out as soon as we get there," Hermione explained.

"Right," Ed acknowledged as he continued to look out the window.

The next hour or so was spent in conversation amongst Harry, Ron, and Hermione about their summer, while Ed simply looked out the window at the passing scenery. He had nothing to add to it, after all, what could he say? _I spent my summer investigating chimeras in my country and took on an apprentice who later died._ He couldn't tell such a thing; they were kids, not knowing about the horrors that Ed had seen in his life. He slumped further against the window at the thought, but just then someone was at the door of their cabin.

There was a smiling dimpled woman who asked, "Anything off the card, dears?"

Ed couldn't' help but look at what was on the cart and it was filled with what looked like candy. All of them wrapped up in colorful packaging that made Ed think of a rainbow that had been made edible. He watched Harry Potter take out sickles and knuts out of his pocket and buying up the items on the cart. He had caught the named of the treats as they came off it, names like _Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans _and _Chocolate Frogs._ Naturally, he was curious about these things, he watched intently as Harry and Ron pilled their treats on the seats while Hermione shook her head.

"Don't fill up, there's still the feast at school," she said.

"Right mum," Ron said sarcastically as he opened up a chocolate frog.

"Do you want one, Edward?" Hary asked as he offered a chocolate frog.

"Sure," Ed replied as he took the package, "And please call me Ed."

"Right, Ed." Harry smiled

Ed opened up the package to find a literal chocolate frog.

"They didn't make these with real frogs did they?" Ed asked rather nervously.

"Nope," Harry answered, "but it's funny you say that since I asked the same question when I first saw it."

"Hey, there's a card in here," Ed observed as he pulled it out of the package and he read the name at the bottom, "Ay Rippa."

"Hey, that's the one I'm missing!" Ron called out, "Mind if I have it, Ed? I'll trade you."

"Here, go ahead," Ed said as he handed the card to Ron, he didn't even bother to look at the rest of the information on it, he was more interested in the chocolate frog itself. He took one bit of it and was amazed to discover how perfectly sweet it was. It wasn't too sweet and it wasn't sweet to the point where he wished it was sweeter, it was just right. After savoring the first bit, he went for the rest of the frog, practically devouring it.

"If you liked the frogs, try these," Ron offered as he held out a box of Every Flavor Beans.

"Ed reached in and pulled out a bean that was dark green with light green stripes. He placed it in his mouth and was delighted to discover how sweet and fruity it was.

"Watermelon," He said, "I've never tasted anything like this before in my life."

"They don't have things like this where you come from?" Hermione asked

"They do," Ed answered, "But nothing as delicious."

It was a small fib on Ed's part, certainly he saw candy shops in Central, but he never went into them. He was usually busy with work from the state and that was when he realized how much of his own childhood had been lost.

Ed enjoyed his chocolate frogs and the Every Flavor Beans, at least until he bit into one that was the most unexpected thing ever. The bean was a yellow color and he expected it to be lemon but instead he was met with a bitterly acidic flavor that he already knew what it was. His face contorted as he swallowed the bean followed by another bite of a chocolate frog to get the taste out of his mouth.

"What flavor did you get?" Harry asked

"Vomit," Ed answered with great disgust as he took another bite of the frog. After taking a good amount of the taste out of his mouth he had to comment, "They weren't kidding about _every flavor_."

"Even Dumbledore got an ear wax flavored one once," Harry added.

"Who's Dumbledore?" Ed asked, but then remembered the report he read and corrected himself, "Oh yes…he's the school's headmaster."

"That's right," Hermione nodded, "You'll see him when we get to Hogwarts. Speaking of which, we're coming up to Hogwarts pretty soon, we should change into our school robes. Except you, Edward. Since you need to be sorted you won't need to change just yet, but if you're in Gryffindor, you already have the color for it."

Ed smiled when she referred to the red jacket that he was wearing.

The train had arrived at the station, and Ed saw the school uniforms that Hermione was talking about. He saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione were wearing ties that had the colors of red and gold, while their robes were black with a Hogwarts Crest on the right with a Gryffindor crest on the other side. Seeing it, Ed wondered about the other houses, but he still reminded himself that it was all part of trying to find the Philosopher's Stone.

Getting off the train, Ed followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione to a long string of carriages that were being pulled along by the most foul looking of creatures that the Fullmetal Alchemist had ever laid eyes on. They looked reptilian, but at the same time they had horse-like qualities to them. At first Ed had gasped at it but decided not to say anything thinking that such creatures were normal at Hogwarts.

"What is it, Ed?" Harry asked as the four of them got onto the carriage.

"Nothing," Ed answered, "Nothing at all."

The carriage ride was a bumpy one and Ed couldn't stand the silence of it all, and his curiosity wanted to know.

"Hey, what are the other houses like?' he asked the others.

"The Sorting Hat will tell that part," Hermione explained, "when you're about to be sorted, they will call your name, and place a hat on your head that will decide where you'll be placed."

It sounded absolutely silly to Edward Elric, so much that he just wanted to say; _come on!_ On the other hand how could he deny such a thing after everything that he's seen and heard in the past week? Secret walls, barriers, entries to hidden allies, and so on, with that in mind, a magical hat didn't exactly seem that far out of possibility.

He walked with the other students to an enormous dinning hall with four long tables where the kids sat and one at the far end where the adults sat. The other students were taking their seats and Ed had been told to join the first years who were gathering at the end of the great hall near the long table where the adults sat. Yet, before anything got started, an old man with a long white beard and a pair of half-circle glasses got up from his chair and spoke:

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" He welcomed, "I'd like to start with a few announcements before the sorting ceremony begins and our feats starts. Firstly, I'd like to welcome our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Edmund Blackadder."

Ed looked to the end of the (what he assumed to be) faculty table where a young man of about 30 years stood up and bowed to the applauding audience. He looked rather tall and lanky despite his long black robes; his face was also thin, with a pair of brown eyes, short curly black hair, and a goatee with a mustache. After bowing, Professor Blackader sat back down.

"Now, I'd like to welcome a special new student," Dumbledore stated his announcement, "An exchange student from the Alchemy Academy in the land of Amestris, Edward Elric."

Edward could feel the eyes in the room focusing upon him, but trying to play along he rose a shy hand in a very stuff wave to the students who were applauding him in their welcome.

"Edward Elric," Dumbledore continued, "will be spending the next year learning with us, so, I urge you to give him the best of our hospitality."

"Oh great," Ed heard a young sarcastic voice groan behind him. He turned to look to find a young boy with white blonde hair speaking to his "friends" , "This place really has gone to the dogs now that we have a pipsqueak foreigner as a student."

Ed's blood instantly boiled.

"WHO YOU CALLIN' A PIPSQUEAK SO SMALL YOU NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO LOOK AT? I'M STILL GROWING YOU WHITE HAIRED IDIOT."

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore bellowed across the hall trying to calm Edward down, "Bear in mind, Edward Elric, that while you are here, you are a guest of our school and an ambassador of your school as well."

Edward had calmed down slightly, but gave a very sinister glare to the white-blonde hair boy who seemed to develop a quiver of fear when Ed looked at him. He decided to let him go and continue onto the sorting ceremony. He looked ahead to a witch with black hair, a stern face, and green robes who stood next to a stool with a very raggedy looking hat on it. She held the hat up and within the loose seams it seemed to form eyes, a mouth, and began to sing.

_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty_

_ But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black_

_Your top hats sleek and tall_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see_

_So try me on and I will tell you _

_Where you ought to be._

_You might be in Gryffindor_

_Where dwell the brave at heart_

_Their daring, enver, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff_

_Where they are just and loyal_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw_

_If you're a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends_

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap_

_You're in safe hands (Though I have none)_

_For I'm a thinking cap._

"There's something you really don't see everyday," Ed commented to himself as the green robed witch called out the first name on her parchment.

"King, Anita." She called

And a young red haired girl stepped up to the stool and with the hat on her head it wriggled around a bit.

"Right….right!" The hat said, "Better be…Gryffindor!"

The kids at the table where Harry and his friends sat cheered as the young redhead sat down with them.

"Elric, Edward."

Ed walked up to the stool, upon sitting down; the hat was placed upon his head. It reminded him of the day of his State Alchemist Exam where he had to sit on a chair in the middle of a transmutation circle and go through an interview. Even though none of it mattered a single bit to him, his heart was still thumping with anxiety and anticipation. The hat was placed on his head.

"Hmmm," The sorting hat said in contemplation of the current student he was to examine, "Tricky…_very tricky._ This one has great talent…and genius…_a prodigy,_ oh yes. Courage beyond the years of any normal boy his age, a short temper about your height, also a lking for the attention of your deeds…but most of all…there's love…for someone near and dear...but _where to place you…_"

"I really don't know," Ed answered in his head.

"_Very trick indeed,_ much like Harry Potter you are," the hat said to Edawrd, "Any house would be perfect for you, Ravenclaw for your prodigal genius, Hufflepuff for your loyalty, Slytherin for your ambition, and Gryffindor for your courage."

Edward looked to the Gryffindor table where Harry Potter and his friends sat, all of them having the look of wondering anticipation of the Sorting Hat's verdict. Edward had instantly remembered that moment of the bond he felt on the train when he looked at that scar on Harry's forehead.

"Hmmm, I see now," the Sorting Hat said with a very happy grin in it's voice, "I know…better be…Gryffindor!"

All those at the Gryffindor table cheered as Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist had the Sorting Hat taken off of his head and he took his seat next to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They were all glad that Ed had joined them. Even Ed was glad, which was odd, even though earlier he didn't care one bit about this place called Hogwarts, suddenly he felt like he belonged.

To Be Continued…


	4. The First Day

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal**** Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 4: The First Day**

Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist and Fourth Year Gryffindor was about to awaken to his first day of Hogwarts education, but he was dreaming. He dreamt that he was in a place that he had never seen before in his entire life. It looked like he was inside a house, but everywhere he looked the place looked like it was ready to fall apart. The windows were cracked, the broken doors creaked, the paint was chipped to show the plaster that was starting to peel, and there was not a single soul around.

In that dreaming state, Ed was led through the house by a force that was like a magnet pulling a paperclip. He was lead down a set of stairs that lead into the house's basement; the question of what was in that house overcame the knowledge that Ed had that it must have been a dream.

He reached the foot of the stairs and he looked to find the oddest thing. There in the center of the basement was a door standing on it's own with a small outer frame that held it down into the floor. He was about to walk forward and open the door when he was awakened by his newly acquired friends Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

The three of them first knocked, then came into the room with Hermione calling out;

"Hurry up, Edward," she called still sounding a little bossy, "you don't want to be late for your first day."

Slightly frustrated, Ed got himself out of bed and dressed. Thankfully, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had left him alone for a moment; otherwise they would have discovered Ed's auto-mail arm and leg. As he was getting dressed he found at the foot of his bed his new school robes in the Gryffindor colors. It was still odd to him as he got dressed that he felt a certain amount of pride as he dressed in the colors of red and gold with the Gryffindor lion crest on his robe. He tried to rationalize it by telling himself that it was probably because it wasn't a military that he had become a part of but more of an extended family that he never knew about.

After Edward got dressed he walked with his new friends to their first class of transfiguration with their teacher and head of Gryffindor, Professor McGonnagal, that woman with black hair, stern face, small lens glasses, and green robes. She began handing out apples to each student after they had taken their seats.

"Today," she began, "We'll be transforming these apples into oranges with a charm like this…" she took her wand out and tapped her apple three times as she said, "one…two…three…_Orangia_"

A small white spark came from her wand and struck the apple instantly changing it into an orange. She then took a knife from the table and sliced the new orange in half to show its juicy insides.

"Now, for all of you to try," she said as she first approached Ron Weasley.

He cleared his throat, tapped his apple three times and said with a poor pronunciation, "_Orangia__…_"

A green spark flew from his want and his apple only grew and orange rind around its shape.

"Keep trying, Mister Weasley," McGonnagal said with disappointment. She then moved to Hermoine who performed the magic with the precision of a surgeon.

"_Orangia__!"_ She said loudly and clearly, the sparks flew out of her wand, struck the smooth red surface turning it into the orange textured surface of the citrus fruit. McGonnagal brought her knife over and sliced the fruit open to show that it was orange through and through.

"Very good," McGonnagal smiled, "five points to Gryffindor."

She then came over to Edward Elric who was holding his wand but looking at his apple with a very puzzled look. McGonnagal looked at Ed with a pleasant expecting smile having high hopes that he would be like Hermoine and bring points to Gryffindor with the genius that the Sorting Hat was talking about.

"Go ahead, Mister Elric," she smiled.

"I'm sorry professor," Ed apologized, "But I don't understand this."

"It's alright," McGonnagal said as she explained, "Just tap three times and say _orangia_"

"That's not what I mean professor," Ed restated, "I mean that it doesn't make any sense to turn an apple into an orange, it has no equivalence. If I was asked to recombine the apple into its original shape then nit would be a fair trade, but this isn't."

"In that case, Mister Elric, I suggest you apply that genius talent that we heard about and study a little harder," McGonnagal said as she lost her pleasing smile and moved onto the next student leaving Edward to stew in his unanswered frustration, and the worst of the first day was yet to come.

The next class was one that Edward Elric almost wanted to burst in outrage. It was the History of Magic with a ghost teacher Binus who was talking about a very difficult act of alchemy where it was thought that all matter was composed of certain elements and that they can be removed to make other elements. This was only the second part of alchemy's history. Ed continued to listen and found alchemy had its roots in philosophy itself that the idea of turning lead into gold was purely metaphorical. It really meant to transform a person's lead of ignorance to the gold of enlightenment.

This outraged Edward because he knew that in his country, Alchemy was born in the kitchen. How could a science have such flimsy superstitious roots as this? Of course, he didn't say anything because each time that he did he got a very sharp scold from Hermione that would have matched Winry's when she was truly mad.

Next came Defense Against the Dark Arts, and in there was that very lanky man who was at the staff table during the Sorting Ceremony. He stood at the front of the class using his desk as a make-shift podium and spoke.

"Good morning, class," he smiled.

"Good morning Professor Blackadder." The class responded

"Now then," Blackadder clasped his hands together, "since this is my first year of teaching, I would ask that you bear with me and help me along if I make any mistakes. Including yourself Miss Granger if what the rest of the staff has told me is true."

"He's onto you," Ron whispered to a very flustered Hermione.

"Now that's out of the way, I'll start off the class by teaching you how to rid your home of common creatures that are pests. Please turn you books to page 14 and we'll start with the common poltergeist."

Edward only heard the first part of the lecture where he heard that a poltergeist was just a troublemaking spirit that can be easily dealt with a small charm once it's spotted, but had to protect a house from them returning all one does is set up a barrier. Ed didn't hear the rest of it; he fell asleep with his face propped upon his left hand.

The next thing that Ed knew, there were two fingers nudging him in his shoulder which sent his head tumbling off his hand, and he awakened. He looked up to find Professor Blackadder looking at him with a look that was a mixture of expectance and humor.

"Your class has already left for Care of Magical Creatures, Edward Elric," Blackadder said, "or should I call you, _Fullmetal__ Alchemist?"_

Instantly, Ed came full awake and looked up at Blackadder with shock and then around the room in panic to see if anyone was listening to the discussion. For he knew that the mission would be over if people knew about his title as the Fullmetal Alchemist. He saw that there was no one in the room but he and Blackadder, he looked back at the professor who had the look as if he had been enjoying watching Edward's panic.

"No need to worry, Mister Elric," Blackadder smiled as he reached into his wizards robes and pulled out the silver pocket watch with the King's emblem on it, the badge of the state alchemist. "I am the Tattoo Alchemist, Fullmetal. I am the one here keeping an eye on you by order of Colonel Roy Mustang."

Edward's panic had then transformed into relief with the after effects of his panic still washing over him. He then gave the professor a smile as his mind had quickly put the pieces together as to who Roy Mustang meant when Ed left Central.

"So…_you_ were the one who wrote the report," Ed deduced.

"Quite right, Mister Elric," Blackadder smiled, "I couldn't put my name on it for security reasons, but this doesn't' excuse you for sleeping through my class. Two rolls of parchment on poltergeists, how to spot them, where to spot them, and how to get rid of them."

"You're really enjoying this aren't you?" Edward asked as he hissed through his teeth in spite of the professor.

"As long as we're here, we have to play out our roles, Mister Elric," Blackadder said as he turned to his desk, "now, run along or you'll be late for your next class."

Ed had gathered up his books feeling steaming made about this, he hated the feeling of being talked down to as if he were a child. Of course, had Alphonse been there he would have reminded Ed that they were still children. He stewed in this idea for only half a minute before reminding himself once again that he was along at Hogwarts and Alphose Elric was back home. He then became very depressed at remembering it as he walked the Hogwarts grounds to a hut at the edge of the forest where there was a small gathering of students. Upon coming closer to the crowd, Ed had heard that gruff voice of Rubeus Hagrid.

"Right, come on now!" He called out, "come a little closer, tat's it. Fer our first lesson, I'm gonna how yer all different dragon eggs."

As Edward approached he saw the other students crowding around Hagrid who was sitting upon the ground with four different and very large spotted eggs in front of him. It was hard to gauge the size because Hagrid's enormous hands reached down, picked one up, and displayed it to the students around him as if it were a precious jewel.

"Now…" he began, "who can tell me wha kin' of egg this is?"

Hermoine's hand shot straight up into the air.

"Go 'head, 'ermoine," Hagred stated with a smile on his face.

"That is an egg of the Norweigan Ridgeback dragon," Hermione answered.

"Very good, 'ermoine," Hagrid smiled as he placed the dragon's egg back on the ground, "ten points ter Gryffindor, now, can anyone tell wha this egg is?"

Instantly Edward felt bored out of his mind by this pointless verification. He quietly yawned and stretched his arms out wishing that the class would end soon so he could begin his search for Flamel's journal.

His mind had spaced out on the lecture but then was sharply brought back to reality by a fierce cry that Edward Elric was all too familiar with. He dashed out of the crowd of students towards where the cry came from, ignoring Hagrid's warnings of:

"Stay tergether! Say tergether!"

Edward had found himself at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and saw amongst the thick branches and undergrowth, a large shadow moving, dashing from tree to tree as it came closer and got bigger by the second. He was concentrating on the shadow so much that he didn't see Harry, Ron, and Hermione stepping up behind him to see what kind of creature could make such a feral cry. They too saw the leaping shadow coming closer and the answer of what made that cry had leapt out of the forest onto the grass of Hogwarts.

The thing was a hideous creature, something that made the Hogwarts students disgusted just to look at it. Even Harry, Ron, and Hermione had thoughts of Hagrid considering it for a pet along with his other dangerous collection of fierce creatures. However, to Edward Elric, he looked at the thing without fear or disgust since he could see it was made up of equal parts of different animals. There was a lion for the head, a scaly body with forelegs like an Eagle, hind legs like those of a badger – fat and furry – with a tail like a scorpion. Topping it all off, the thing had thin wings like a bat that looked as if the creature would never use them. The hideous mishmash of a creature had let out another feral cry that made everyone, Hagrid, the students, Harry, Ron, and Hermione cover their ears, but not Edward Elric who stood his ground against the thing.

"I know what you are, you poor bastard," he said with great contempt in his voice with a small touch of pity, "I'll soon put you out of your misery."

Ed was about to make the call for his brother to help him in his attack, but then remembered that hew as on his own. Even more he remembered that he couldn't use alchemy.

So, it was down to two things, use magic or take the creature down with his bare hands. He had no time to make a decision as the mishmash of a creature leapt forward for Edward Elric as its first prey and Ed reached up with his fist and slammed the creature in the face. The punch threw the animal off course and down to the ground where Ed made the next quick decision and brought his leg up to the creatures' neck. The thing fell to its side where it was gasping for air and at that moment, Hermione stepped out drawing her wand and calling out:

"Immobulus!"

In a flash, the creature was frozen upon the ground as Hagrid Ed, Harry, Hron, and Hermione drew around it to have one more look at it.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Ron demanded wanting an answer.

"This is a chimera," Ed answered.

"A Chimera?' Hermione asked

"A creature made through the use of alchemy," Ed has finished, "look, it has pars lion, lizard, eagle, bat, badger, and scorpion. The combining of animals…the most depraved type of craft known to man…"

Class was dismissed immediately after the attack of the chimera since the thing was immobilized; Hagrid had told that he would take care of the thing. Of course, when the students heard this, more than a few eyebrows were raised. In fact, during the walk down to the dungeons for potions class, Edward had listened in on the conversation.

"You don't think Hagrid's going to keep the thing?" Ron had asked

"I certainly hope not," Hermione responded.

Harry on the other hand was very curious about Edward in how he was able to bring down the creature with just a simple punch and kick. He had tried to reason that no one could be that strong, even Edward from the look of him. Still, Harry had so many questions on his mind about him, but he had to put them aside as Professor Snape made his entrance.

"Even though you're all fourth years," Snape said to the class sounding very condescending, "I do not expect all of you to pass this course with high grades."

Listening to him, Ed had noticed how snake-like his speech was, acid tongued, and elongating the s-sounds in his words. He gazed at the class even looking snake-like with his beady little black eyes and his pale face framed in bangs of long greasy hair. Still, the way in how condescending he was to the students was so thick that it made Ed think of Roy Mustang whenever he came back empty handed on the Philosopher's Stone. The look on Mustang's face made Ed nauseous to think about, but he couldn't help but smirk.

"What are you smirking about, Elric?" Snaped demanded as he sneered down at Ed while approaching his desk.

"Nothing, professor," Ed answered.

"They say that you're a genius," Snape stated sounding unimpressed by what he heard, "Tell me, why is the potion _Felix Felicis_banned in all competitions."

Hermione rose her hand right away, but to hers and everyone else's surprise, Edward Elric answered:

"Because," he sated, "_Felix Felicis_ is liquid luck, anyone who has it will be lucky for that day. It's also toxic in large doses and can cause reckless behavior from over confidence."

Snape's face contorted in annoyance, "Very well," He said still sounding unimpressed, "let's try something else…what is _Armotentia_ and what it smells like?"

Hermione's hand was raised once again, but before her arm was fully extended, Ed had answered:

"_Armotentia_ is _the_ most powerful love potion known to exist," Ed answered, "But its smell varies from person to person, depending upon what the person finds attractive."

Hermione's hand dropped to her desk, she was baffled by how someone else can know the answers to difficult questions so readily. She looked at Edward with her jaw gaping wondering if it all was just a fluke.

"Well, Miss Granger," Snape said acidly to Hermione, "It would appear that you've met your match. Now, Mister Elric, tell me what are the ingredients in the average adult human body."

Edward felt his own heart sink to the pit of his stomach when he heard the question. It felt as if Snape knew his own little secret about his past. He looked to Hermione hoping that she would know the answer, to no surprise of his that Hermione didn't know the answer to the question. No one in the room knew this answer except Ed and Snape.

Ed took a deep breath as the names and measurements rolled out, "Water 35 liters, Carbon 20 kilograms, Ammonia 4 liters, lime 1.5 kilograms, phosphorus 800 grams, salt 250 grams, saltpeter 100 grams, sulfur 80 grams, fluorine 7.5 grams, Iron 5 grams, silicone 3 grams, and trace amounts of 15 other elements."

Snape's pale face looked more annoyed than ever as he grudgingly said, "That's right, Mister Elric."

The memory of what had happened was so painful to Ed that he looked back up at Snape with such distaste, rancor, and contempt that he had to say something about it.

"Tell _me_, professor," Ed began taking Snape's interest, "is there a purpose to these questions or are you purposefully being sardonic?"

Snape's face had gone past the look of annoyance and went straight to outright rage at Edward Elric and he said:

"Fifty points from Gryffindor, Mister Elric," Snape had snarled at Ed, "as fro you, five rolls of parchment on the use of specific potions for snake potions."

As the class continued, Edward came to despise Professor Snape even more with that one question that he asked.

To Be Continued…


	5. Sandra Locke

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal**** Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 5: Sandra Locke**

Ed came out of the potions class feeling very miserable at the thoughts and memories that were brought up by Professor Snape's Question. Each time he heard that man's voice play over and over in his head he grew even angrier at him. It wasn't like it was with Colonel Mustang, he only got on Ed's nerves, but Snape had managed to get under Ed's skin like a splinter that he can't pull out but can't ignore. The whole time that he came out of the dungeons, he never looked up, all he looked at was the stone floor and the other students robes, until his new friends came up on either side of him.

"That was _bloody _brilliant!" Ron complemented Ed.

"What?" Ed asked as he looked up at them.

"The way you stood up to Snape," A new voice spoke and Ed looked to where the voice came from and it was a young girl. She was a Gryffindor, by the look of her robes, she had bright red hair, but it wasn't wavy like Ron's, it was straight as it came down around her neck and shinned even in low light of the dungeons.

"No one's ever answered Snape's questions like that," the red hair girl told Ed cheerfully, "Even that comment at the end, he just had that coming."

"I guess," Ed had replied.

"Who are you?" Harry asked.

"Oh," The girl smiled as she blushed, "I'm Sandra Locke, fourth year Gryffindor, and that was incredible with what you said to Snape. So it is true what they're saying that you're a prodigy, Edward."

Ed could feel his spirits lifting a little as he had managed to gain some level of bragging rights with the other students. He even smiled about it in the same way that he did when he heard people telling stories of Edward Elric, hero of the people. He lifted his head a little as he walked with his new group of friends to the Great Hall where lunch was being served.

"You could say that I'm a prodigy," Ed had answered Sandra's question.

As they sat down at the Gryffindor table Ed felt like a celebrity as Sandra had asked the questions that were on the students minds. Ed blushed as the other students gathered around to hear his answers.

"Were you like this back at your school?" Sandra asked.

"My school?" Ed asked, but then quickly realized his cover and tried to cover up his little error, "Oh yes! My school! The Alchemy Academy! I'm pretty well known there, they call me the _Fullmetal__ Alchemist_."

"Why do they call you Fullmetal?" Hermoine asked.

Ed looked down at his gloved hand and quickly thought that he couldn't' tell them the full story of how and why he got his name. He paused for a moment and thought that he should tell only half-truths.

"You see," Ed explained, "At my academy when one enters it, they're given a symbolic second name, depending upon your talents."

"So you can do things with metal?" Ron asked

Ed gave a very sheepish grin, "Something like that."

"The way you make it sound," Sandra interjected, "the academy must be pretty exclusive."

"Yeah, it is," Ed nodded as he took a jug of pumpkin juice and a piece of chicken with some mashed potatoes, "Each year, more than a dozen people apply and only one or two get in."

"One or two out of that many?" Harry asked sounding astonished at the level of selectivity not knowing the full truth of what Ed was telling.

"That's right," Ed continued, "First is a written exam, then an interview, and then a practical exam."

"We all know that Hermione would pass the written exam," Ron smirked as he nudged his thumb to Hermione who looked a little irritated as she sipped her pumpkin juice. She looked like she had a snappy comeback to Ron, but instead she looked at Edward with a rather suspicious look in her eye.

"You still haven't answered why they gave you the name _Fullmetal_"

"Well…" Ed paused as he scratched the back of his head, "I think that's a story for another time."

Ed continued to eat his lunch, but couldn't escape that look that Hermione had. His heart raced as he thought that perhaps she had the idea that she knew that Ed wasn't telling the whole storey. He tried to put it out of his mind by getting more chicken, mashed potatoes, and pouring himself more pumpkin juice –which he found sweetly refreshing.

"Why do you wear those gloves?" Sandra asked

Ed answered simply, "That also is a long story."

After lunch, other classes, and dealing with the questions from the other students about him and his academy, Ed had at last reached the Hogwarts Library. The place was immense, almost as large as the library at Central Headquarters, but there was the librarian there who was keeping everyone as quiet as humanly possible by scouting from table to table like a prison guard. It had annoyed Ed after about the fourth or fifth time that the old woman had told someone to be quiet or gave a quick "shhh!" but he kept himself occupied by reminding himself that he had a job to do.

When going on a search like the one that Ed was doing, the hours of the day seem to pass more easily than water from a jug. Yet, his search had yielded nothing at all, and it wouldn't be a lie to say that Ed had some expectations that he would be able to find the book and escape the school. The minute that he thought about "escaping the school" he remembered his homework along from the increasingly disdainful Snape. It was then that Ed decided to take his mind off the search for a while by going into his homework. Admittedly, it wasn't the best way he would have chosen to pass the time, but he had a reputation to keep as a prodigy. What made the homework assignments annoying even more was the fact that they were on rolls of parchment instead of flat paper.

"Real medievalism this is," Edward commented aloud before being assaulted with a loud "Shhh!" from the librarian. After she walked by, Ed had last word with himself, "_I rest my case._"

It annoyed Ed even further when he was writing with his feathered quill, between keeping the parchment flattened, the feather rubbing against his face, and having to refill his quill tip every few sentences. He started to wonder how in the hell anyone can write in this fashion. It even occurred to him that he should write to Alphonse and have him send a box of notebooks, pens, pencils, and erasers.

As he came to the end of the fifth roll of parchment, Ed was starting to feel thankful, that his arm was auto-mail, or his fingers probably wouldn't have had the strength to hold the quill once again. On the other hand, he was glad that he was finished; it meant that he could resume his search for Flamel's book.

Once again, Edward was frustrated by finding nothing there, but had this been a normal search he could have asked the librarian. Unfortunately, it wasn't a normal search as Ed's mind poured over the possibilities and he was back to the proverbial square one.

Eventually, Edward had found himself in a single corner in the library where the books were as old as the others but their care was severely poor. Some of the book bindings were missing, some had bent corners on their covers, and others had stains on them like people had spilled ink, coffee, juice, or whatever else onto them. Yet, that wasn't what brought Ed to that assortment of tattered books. He reached up and pulled a tattered leather-bound book and read its title.

"Beginning Alchemy," He read in his mind then scoffed, "Do they even teach alchemy at this backward nation?"

He turned to put the book back into its place when another hand had reached out in front of his face to retrieve a book from the shelf. Turning his head slowly to the right, he found the smiling face of the girl who lifted his spirits, Sandra Locke.

"Hi…" she smiled at Ed and blushed a little, but keeping her voice low so as not to attract the librarian.

Even though Ed tried to deny it to himself later on, but he did feel himself blush just for a moment when Sandra smiled at him. Still looking at that smile that she had, he took his hand away from the shelf, and he noticed that there was something so warming about the way that she looked at him. He couldn't figure it out at first because she whispered a question that brought him out of his daze.

"You're looking for alchemy books too?" she whispered.

"What?" Ed had asked inquiring what Sandra had meant.

"These books," she referred, "They're all about alchemy and you came from the Alchemy Academy in Amestris, right?"

"Yes," Ed had answered being leery and cautions, 'but why do you ask?"

"I find alchemy to be fascinating," Sandra smiled and had a look in her eyes that make him think of his mechanic, Winry, when she entered a parts shop.

"You do?" Ed asked, "Don't they teach it here?"

"Oh no," Sandra shook her head, "Alchemy is pretty advanced magic around here."

"It's not magic!" Ed bellowed, "it's science!"

"SHHHH!" The annoyed sound came from Miss Price as she passed by the bookshelves.

"Sorry…" Ed apologized as he grinned sheepishly while he got a very nasty glare from Miss Price who continued on with her book sorting and left Ed with Sandra who continued their conversation in cautious whispering.

"I was saying," Sandra continued, "That alchemy is so advanced that not very many people in England can do it. Just between you and me, I think it's either because they're too dependant on their wands or too lazy to draw transmutation circles. Besides, the only Alchemist in England is Nicholas Flamel and he's too old to teach anyone."

"Really?" Ed asked acting surprised to hear such a thing.

"Yeah," Sandra answered, "So, I've been trying to learn alchemy on my own but the books here are so…_old…_"

Ed had to agree, "Yes, they are," but then he had to add, "In my country books like this can be bought as easily as food."

There was a momentary pause between them until Sandra's face grew a great smile, one that seemed to say that she knew a great secret that she was about to tell.

"I got an idea," She happily whispered.

Ed listened feeling a little confused by what Sandra was about to ask next.

"How about you teach me alchemy?"

"What?" Ed asked

"Sure," Sandra smiled, "I mean they say you're a prodigy and you come from the Alchemy Academy. You'd be perfect for it."

Upon hearing this, Edward could feel a very familiar stab of pain in his heart. The pain was coupled with a memory so vivid and fresh that his senses could feel sensations within that memory. It was the memory of Amrony, the girl from Heissgart, the girl who became his apprentice in alchemy, and she was the girl with the single wing.

As Ed thought about the memory of Heisgart, he felt like crying once again, he could even feel his eyes start to water, but he tried not to release them. It was not the time or the place to allow such a thing to happen, and it was with that memory that he gave his answer to Sandra Locke.

"I'm sorry," He apologized at first, "But I cannot teach you alchemy."

Ed already knew what the next response would be.

"Why not?" Sandra had asked with a very pitiful look on her face like a child wanting extra dessert.

Ed took a deep breath still feeling the stab in his chest and the water swelling in his eyes. He couldn't look at Sandra with that look in her eyes that was so much like _Armony_ He turned away, sniffled and tired to find a way out of the discussion. All he knew was that he couldn't be around Sandra for another minute.

"I have to go," He said as he ducked out of Sandra's company and out of the library. He had no idea where he was going but all he wanted more than anything was to get away from that memory.

For the rest of the day, Ed had avoided speaking to anyone at all, if he could help it. The memory of Heissgart that was brought on by Sandra Locke became another splinter in his mind that he couldn't ignore. He found his mind wandering from time to time from one class until the next. At last it was all done and Ed certainly had a pile of work cut out for him from his first day of classes. In a way he was thankful for it since it had allowed him to get his mind away from what had happened earlier in the library.

Ed spent the remainder of the day in the common room with his other fellow Gryffindors, but he didn't know who was there, for just like most of that day, he avoided looking at the other students. It got to the pint when the sunlight was fading outside the windows, most of the other Gryffindors had returned to their dorms, and Ed needed something else to do.

His thoughts came back to his home and he thought about those weekly reports that he had to make to Roy Mustang. He took out a roll of parchment and began to write out the report. There really wasn't that much to tell Mustang aside from the facts that he'd successfully entered the school with little suspicion and that he had not found Flamel's journal yet. In short, it was a good news/bad news kind of report. Still, Ed didn't care, because it helped take his mind off of Sandra Locke.

He managed to write out at least three rolls of parchment that contained his report. There was the hope in a small fashion if Roy Mustang didn't mind the medieval type of writing craft that Ed had to use. Then he shrugged it off thinking that really it's not his fault that he has to use quills and parchment, so Colonel Mustang will just have to deal with it.

After writing the report, Ed then thought about his brother Alphonse. At that thought, he took out another roll of parchment and started to write his letter to his brother:

_Dear Alphonse,_

The moment he wrote those words he couldn't figure out what to put down next, so he decided to write that.

_I'm not sure how to write this letter, because this is the first time that we've been apart from each other since we started our search. I know that in order for us to reach our goals we have to do what we can. I also know that's not much comfort when I'm in this country and so far from home. _

_ This place is weird. The world of these "wizards" is both hidden and exposed, such as the Hogwarts Express, it can be reached by walking through a wall between Platforms 9 and 10. As crazy as that sounds, it's true. Even this place that's in the middle of nowhere, Hogwarts, is the most unusual of places I've ever visited._

_ The place really is childish what with this Sorting Ceremony I had to go through. I had to sit on a stool and had a talking hat placed on my head and tell me which "house" I belonged to. The houses of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, it feels like there are four schools even though we're all under one roof. It still sounds childish, but it's a school so I guess it's supposed to be. _

_ Even what they study here…magic…you will not believe the things that I had to listen to, Al. Everything that they teach here disobeys the laws that we were taught. It's as if the laws of Equivalent Exchange cease to exist in these castle walls. I saw a woman tap an animal with a wooden wand and turn it into an object. How can this be without any equivalence! None of it makes any sense! If such things are possible, then why are people like you and I suffering for our mistake?_

_ There is one good thing that has come from me coming to this unusually childish place, and it's not the journal that I haven't found. I've met some people. They're names are Ron Weasley, Hermoine Granger, and Harry Potter. I'll tell you more about them in the next letter. I hope to hear from you soon. _

_Your__ Brother,_

_Edward Elric_

To Be Continued…


	6. Being Young

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal**** Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 6: Being Young**

Friday seemed to come fairly quickly, but to Edward Elric it only meant that he had two and a half free days to look for the book in the Hogwarts library. There was no question that there was homework to do, but Ed had managed to finish it a little more quickly than Hermione. Even though Ed didn't know it at the beginning but she was quite annoyed that Ed had not only completed the homework quicker but got higher marks than her. Yet, with the homework out of the way, he was free to look once again.

As Ed sat down in the library, he chose a seat near the window so that he could think up both his next report to Colonel Mustang as well as the next letter that he wanted to write to Al. He pulled out the response letter from Al and Ed read it for what must have been the fifth time:

_Dear Ed,_

_ It is true that I have missed you since you left for __England__, but Colonel Mustang has assured me that an eye would be kept on you by someone named Edmund Blackadder. _

"The Tattoo Alchemist," Ed thought as he continued to read.

_It still feels weird that only you had to go while I had to stay behind, but don't worry Lieutenant Hawkeye has been keeping me busy so that I don't spend so much time worrying about you. It's mostly paperwork kind of stuff, but I know that I'm giving a helping hand. _

_ About this place you're at, Hogwarts, it actually sounds like a fun place. You said that you met some others there who might be good friends, brother. The ones named Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. They sound like such good people so please tell me more about them in the next letter. That's the only thing I regret about not being there with you; the opportunity to meet them. _

_ I have to go now, Lieutenant Hawkeye's telling me to get back to our duties. I look forward to the next letter, brother. _

_Your__ Brother, _

_Alphonse Elric._

As Ed sat at the window he found it even more difficult to write the letter to Al, what else could he say that he didn't say a week ago? That he's been in the school for that much time and yet found nothing? It seemed too morose of a letter to write. Purely out of his own boredom, he turned his head to look out the window to where he could see the front gates of the school, there he saw a gathering of students as if they were waiting for something. Maybe it was boredom or just simple curiosity, but Ed had got up from his chair in the library and headed down to the front gates.

At the front gates, in the center of the small crowd of students was Mister Filch and Professor McGonnagal.

"Alright," Filch grumbled at the students, "Anyone with a permission slip can come, everyone else stay put!"

"Go where?" Ed asked aloud as he scratched his head.

"The village of Hogsmeade," a familiar and feminine voice told.

Ed spun slightly to find Harry, Ron, and Hermione looking excitedly happy like the way people look when they're about to see an exciting movie. Harry and Ron (even though it seemed redundant) they looked like kids waiting to go to the greatest place to have the most fun.

"Where?" Ed asked.

"There's a wizard village just outside the school," Harry explained, "called Hogsmeade."

"What's there?" Ed asked

"What's there!" Ron said sounding very stunned by Ed's question, "There are lots of stuff and its loads of fun."

"They have Zonko's Joke Shop, Honeydukes candy store, and the Three Broomsticks if you want a drink," Harry had further explained with great relish about this place.

"We can tell you about it all day," Hermione pointed out to Ed, "But you'll just have to see it yourself."

Ed could feel himself scoff quietly under his breath, but as he gave it some thought he came to the conclusion that really there was nothing better to do with the day. Perhaps it was the boredom of having homework finished or maybe it was the quiet frustration that he had out of not finding the book, but whatever it was, he thought it wouldn't hurt to check the place out.

"Alright," Ed smiled, "Let's go then."

"Do you have a permission slip?" Hermione asked.

"Permission slip?" Ed asked stunned by the question, but as it sunk over him he never felt more like a kid at that moment. It was because of the fact that he needed a damn permission slip just to go to some town whose name was so suspiciously like the schools. He felt outraged by this when he heard McGonnagal call to him.

"Mister Elric?" She called

Ed turned to her, "Yes, Professor?" He asked in a sulking tone.

"I wanted to inform you that a signed permission slip to visit the village of Hosmeade had arrived by owl today along with a note addressed to you."

"To me?" Ed inquired.

McGonnagal had handed the paper to Ed who quickly opened up the folded paper, and on it was only one sentence that Ed read several times to make sure he wasn't imagining anything.

_Enjoy being a kid for once._

- _Roy Mustang_

At first Ed wanted to yell, scream, and stop as he tore up the note from that arrogant and pompous colonel Mustang. Yet, in the next instant he felt happy, because he realized that now that he had a permission slip he can go into the town of Hosmeade with his new friends. He suddenly found himself smiling and thinking that he owed Colonel Mustang for this, but it was like the note told him, "Enjoy being a kid for once."

"Alright," Ed smiled, "Hogsmeade, here we come!"

As he crossed the threshold of the front gates he never felt more excited, the only other time that Ed felt that way was when he had a solid lead on the Philosopher's Stone. Still, as he walked with his friends, he was suddenly asking himself again why he wanted to go to that place. It was only half and hour later while Ed was still wondering why he was so excited to see this place that they had arrived.

"Welcome to Hogsmeade, Ed," Harry said to Ed.

The Place wasn't that huge, but then again it was called a village, so really what could Ed expect? It had a one-road main street while there were shops on either side of the street. At the same time there were people walking from one place to the next with their reasons of business or pleasure.

As Ed was looking around at the signs for different shops, his friends were debating about what to show him first. Harry was saying that they should go to Honeydukes, Ron wanted him to see Zonko's Joke Shop, and Hermoine wanted to show him "The Shrieking Shack". Already, Ed knew that he had to be the one to stop the arguing and so he went with the first suggestion.

"Let's try this place called Honeydukes," Ed had suggested.

Harry needed no more encouragement and he lead the way down the street to the shop called Honeydukes. Already at the front doorstop of the shop the place seemed to be blazing with color like the brightest start in the evening sky. All around in the shop windows were sweets that Ed had never laid eyes on before and in colors that were so pleasing to the eye that Ed wanted to reach into the window and taste the treats inside.

The desire only amplified once his friends had leaded him into the shop. The place was so crowded with students that they couldn't take two steps without bumping into another student. The annoyance of it was overlooked as Ed looked around at the treats piled in the bins and stacked on the shelves as Harry and Ron told Ed what each of them were. There were creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, honey colored toffees, and dozens, if not hundreds, of different chocolates stacked neatly in rows. At one end there were several barrels of Every Flavor Beans, Fizzing Whizkees (they were floating sherbet balls as Ron explained to Ed), and along another wall were sweets that had "special effects" to them. There were Drooble Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell colored bubbles that refused to pop for days) tiny black pepper imps (breathe fire for your friends!), Ice Mice (Hear your teeth chatter and squeak), peppermint creams shaped like toads (hop realistically in the stomach), and fragile sugar spun quills.

The sights, sounds, and scents permeated all through Ed and he truly became a kid in a candy store. He reached into his pocket for a few galleons and pulled out what he had of his supply for his rationed money. He knew all too well that he couldn't blow all his money on sweets, but he felt that it wouldn't hurt to have a little. He counted at least fifty galleons, twenty sickles, and eight knuts.

Using thirty of his fifty galleons, Ed managed to buy chocolate frogs, every flavor beans, as well as some special gumballs there were said to have different effects with each color. Though he never found out the effect of each color was never told to Ed, because his new friends wanted to surprise him.

The four of them left Honeydukes with two more places to go to on their list. Hermione wanted to show Ed the Shrieking Shack and Ron wanted to show Zonko's Joke shop. With the bag of sweets in his hand and twenty galleons in his pocket, Ed looked at his group of friends.

"Let's see Zonko's," he smiled.

Ron Weasley led the way to the joke shop with a good solid bounce in his step giddy with anticipation to show Ed all the wonderful things that would be there. Turning the corner, Ed's eyes were greeted by the same kind of brightness that Honeydukes had, but at the same time Zonko's had its own uniqueness to show. Inside the windows Ed saw incredible things like at Honeydukes, yet each item that he looked at didn't stimulate his appetite for sweets, but rather caused a rumbling in his chest that caused him to burst out laughing. Yes, Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist was laughing, genuinely laughing, something that he had not done in years.

His friends led him into the shop where he got a better look at some of the products. There were flowers that when sniffed would either puff out gushes of water, splatter, cheese, fire smoke, or blast a cloud of farts into the nearby face. In small boxes around the counter there were fireworks gum packages, "chew and spit 10 different fireworks displays for your friends". Message gob stoppers, "Suck on them and print messages on your tome to make statements at your enemies." Whoopee cushions with "10 different farting noises" once they were inflated. Joke message cards for every occasion that at first was polite but the words inside morphed into the punch line. Secret message parchment whose ink would disappear when held by the unintended recipient, "perfect for silent classroom discussions!"

It was all so incredible to Edward Elric that he had forgotten his own cynicisms about the laws of Equivalent Exchange. He looked to his new friends who were standing around a table that was advertising a new product.

NEW!

SEE-THROUGH GLASSSES!

PUT THEM ON AND SEE THROUGH ONE LAYER OF CLOTHING

Ed scratched his head as he continued to chuckle at the thought of using them. His curiosity once again took hold of him and he reached out for a pair of the glasses to try them on. At least until Harry Potter reached down to pick up a pair. Ed watched as he slipped the rectangular shaped joke glasses over his round framed pair and looked around the room. That was when Ed started to panic, if they could really see through one layer of clothing, and then Harry might see his auto-mail limbs.

He watched, his heart racing as Harry's glance had turned to Hermione Granger who with a prudish and shocked look reached up and slapped Harry's hand so that the see-through glasses came away from his face. Harry had immediately set the glasses down and went over to the fireworks gum. Both Ed and Ron did get a good laugh out of it, but neither one could have seen that as Harry was walking away, Hermione was smiling at Harry.

Upon leaving Zonko's joke shop, Ed had the bag of sweets from Honeydukes in one hand and in the other; he had a bag with fireworks gum, some secret message parchment, and a pair of his own see-through glasses. All the while as they walked onto the street, Ed was laughing with them, and Ed understood fully what Colonel Mustang meant by "enjoy being a kid for once".

There was only one place left that Ed's new friends wanted to show him, the Shrieking Shack. Being led off the beaten down path of Hogsmeade to a small house on its outskirts, Ed felt like he was back home tracing another lead on the Philosopher's Stone with Al. He was half-expecting Al to come tromping up behind him, his armor shaking with fear and telling Ed that it's probably not a good idea, but no such sounds came.

The Shrieking Shack did live up to its name as Ed looked out at it. It was just a small two story house in the middle of a clearing. The "house" itself looked like it was ready to be torn down, the windows smashed in, wood slats missing from the roof, the bricks of the chimney broken, and the wood on the outside of the house peeling and broken like the skin of a dead snake.

"The Shrieking Shack," Hermione presented sounding like a tour guide as she sat her hands on the fence surrounding the house, "The most haunted place in Britain."

Ron leaned over to Ed and whispered, "She loves to tell these things."

"What was that?" Hermione snapped.

"Nothing," Ron smiled sheepishly as Hermione gave him a very suspicious glare that said _I know what you're thinking._

"Well, well, look who's here!" A very arrogant voice called out behind them.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ed spun around to find Draco Malfoy strutting toward them proudly as he was flanked on either side by Grabbe and Goyle. Malfoy was looking especially smug, the kind that would make any normal person boil under their collar.

"Shopping for a new home then, Weasley?" Malfoy asked his sarcasm thick as hardened ice cream, "Bit grand for you then isn't it? Doesn't your family sleep in one room?"

"Shut up, Malfoy…" Ron said unable to look up at Malfory from his own humiliation.

"Ooh," Malfoy smirked, "looks like Weasley's growing some backbone; don't need your mudblood girlfriend or Potter to protect you?"

Hermione and Harry looked at Malfoy angrily as Edward simply shrugged as he had his own comeback.

"You're on to talk about protection," Ed said, "since you need these two goons around you at all times."

"How dare you talk to me that way!" Malfoy spat angrily at Ed, "Snotty shorty!"

Ed's blood boiled instantly as he made his attack on the Slytherin trio.

"SHORTY?" Ed shouted as he punched Malfoy in the gut, "WHAT ELSE YOU WANNA CALL ME? A HALF-PINT-BEAN-SPROUT-MIDGET?"

Ed's punch had knocked the wind right out of Malfoy's lungs, but as the punch sunk in, Ed wasn't done with the Slytherin Trio or with Malfoy. He raised his other fist and began slugging Malfoy left and right.

"ARE YOU ALSO GONNA CALL ME A SUPER-HYPER-SMALL-CHIBI?"

Malfoy fell to the ground harder than a bag of garden river stones. Once Malfoy was down, Ed turned the left-over rage at Grabbe and Goyle. He went for Goyle first bringing up his right leg into a powerful roundhouse kick as he screamed;

"YOU CANNA CALL ME A PIPSQUEAK SO SMALL THAT YOU WANNA CRUSH LIKE AN ANT!"

Goyle went down without even the slightest struggle and there was only one left; Grabbe. To him, Ed had brought about his left fist that landed in Grabbe's face, right between the eyes that gave out a sickening crunch with a small squirt of blood as he flew backwards onto the ground. The second that the third of the Slytherin trio was down Ed's new friends had called out to him;

"ED STOP!"

Ed had stopped and looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermione who had looks of astonishment of what h ad happened. Ed had then realized that this was the first time that they had seen him fight other people and it was a side of Ed that separated him from being a kid. Not the fact that he fought, but by the fact that he fought expertly well and he didn't know what to say next. Thankfully, Ron Weasely had taken care of that;

"Bloody hell," He said astonished, "That was brilliant!"

"You're lucky that a teacher wasn't around or you'd be slapped with detention or worse _expelled_." Hermione had told Ed sounding just like old Aunt Pinako.

Ed had returned to his old self and scoffed at Hermione's comment, "You really need to look at your priorities."

"Well," Ron said sounding worried, "What do we do now?"

No sooner had Ron asked this that a very devilish grin crossed Harry Potter's face

"Hermione," Harry asked, "Go find Collin Creevy."

"Why do you need Collin?" Hermione asked.

Harry turned and smiled that devilish smile, "I have a plan."

"Yikes…" Hermione said quietly as she took off in search of Collin Creevy.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Edward Elric, and Colin Creevy were standing on the outskirts to the clearing for the Shrieking Shack when they heard a series of screams coming from the house. There were three of them, all panicked, confused, and disoriented.

"Get ready, Collin," Harry instructed to the third year Gryffindor.

"Right, Harry," Collin smiled as he setup his camera keeping the view finder on the path that lead to the Shrieking Shack.

The Screaming from the shack became louder and more panicked as the front door opened wide and out ran Draco Malfoy followed by his goons Grabbe and Goyle. The three of them had looks as if they were about to die within the walls of the Shrieking Shack.

The five Gryffindors watched as the Slytherin Trio came dashing out as if they were running for their very lives. The second that they came to the edge of the clearing, they were met by the flashing of Collin Creevy's camera. Normally, Malfoy would have stoped but he was too scarred to even think about such things as he kept running back to Hogsmeade. All the while Grabbe and Goyle were yelling; _Malfoy__! Wait for us!_

As they continued to run, the Gryffindors that stayed behind were drunk with laughter and high from the plot that Harry Potter ha concocted. To sweeten it even further, they had photographs of the scared Malfoy that they had very insidious plans for. Even Edward Elric had to admit that it truly was a great plan to take them to the Shrieking Shack and photograph them running out.

To Be Continued…


	7. Alchemy Page 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal**** Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 7: Alchemy Page 1**

It was the day after the trip to Hogsmeade, as Edward Elric continued his search in the library, he was still giggling to himself about the setup on Draco Malfoy. Yet, that was only the beginning of it, with Collin Creevy there to take a picture of it all, the photograph was not only produced but copied several dozen times and given out to the other students. So, everyone knew how Malfoy and his gang ran from the Shrieking Shack like frightened first years. Needless to say, Malfoy did leave Harry, Ed, and their friends alone for a while, but Harry wasn't so sure about Malfoy.

"Because," He explained, "its Quidditch tomorrow."

Ed didn't bother to ask what Quidditch was in the first place, nor did he care, because he needed to get back to his search for Flamel's Journal. That particular Saturday was a good one for Ed since the library was completely empty except for him and the librarian. At first, he wanted to know what happened to everyone, but then he thought that it didn't matter since he could search uninterrupted.

He yawned for a moment thinking once again about what to write to his brother, Al, he wanted to know about Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but what was there to say after just one day with them? The call of nature came upon Ed and he headed into the hall and for the nearest bathroom when a familiar bushy hair girl had bumped into him.

"I'm sorry…" she quickly said but then asked in surprise, "Ed? What are you doing here?"

Ed looked at Hermione and answered, "I was in the library."

"And Ron calls me a bookworm," Hermione rolled her eyes but then said, "Quidditch is about to start, its Gryffindor verses Slytherin."

Ed thought that he was going to regret asking the question, but his curiosity had gotten the better hold of him once again.

"What's quidditch?" He asked, "And why is it so important?"

"Good thing Ron isn't here to hear that," Hermione raised her eyebrows, "but it's important because Harry's on the Gryffindor team, and Malfoy is on the Slytherin team."

"Okay," Ed said feeling confused, "but what is Quidditch?"

"Come," Hermione said as she grabbed Ed's wrist and dragged him down the hall. Ed had managed to find his pace to keep up with Hermione as they came outside and he was led to a very odd looking field. It looked like any other sports field but it was oval shaped like a football with stands of roaring fans on either side. Ed could already tell who was who, the Gryffindors proudly wearing their colors of red and gold, while the Slytherins were in green and silver.

His mind had already pieced that the Slytherin's were jeering Harry Potter for they wore mocking round framed glasses and each face had a pained letter "L" on their foreheads in place of Harry's lightning bolt scar.

On the other side, that Hermione led Edward to, the mood was downright electric. There was even a harmonious song going on amongst some of the Gryffindors. The words of the song being sun only by the few who knew it, but the beat itself had spread through the Gryffindor crowd like a joyous infection. They stomped their feet and clapped their hands.

THUMP-THUMP-CLAP

THUMP-THUMP-CLAP

THUMP-THUMP-CLAP

The entire seating where the Gryffindors were shook proudly with the spirit lifiting song:

_Buddy you're a boy make a big noise_

_ Playing in the street, gonna be a big man some day_

_ You got mud on your face, you big disgrace_

_ Kickin' your can all over the place_

_ Singin'_

_ We will…we will…rock you!_

_ We will…we will…rock you!_

Ed could feel his own spirits start to sear as the beat moved through him as Hermione led him along and the two of them sat down next to Ron Weasley who was joining in on the beat of the song.

"It's just about to start!" Ron shouted, bringing his voice above the uproarious crowd.

Ed interjected as he sat down, "So it's a game!" He shouted hoping that he'd be heard, "How's it played?"

Ron heard this and was eager to explain, "There are seven players to each team. Three chasers, two beaters, a keeper, and a seeker. The chasers take the Quaffle and try to put it into one of the other teams hoops."

Ed looked at the enormously high hoops and wondered how were they going ot get the ball (The Quaffle as he assumed) into the hoops.

"The Beaters," Ron continued, "the ones with bats knock around a ball called the bludger and stop it from knocking their teammates out. The keeper, is the one who guards the hoops and stops the opposite team from scoring. And the seeker, that's Harry's job, he's going after the golden snitch which is fast and bloody hard to see. When Harry or Malfoy catch it, then the game is over. Get it?"

Ed scratched his head. Quaffle? Beater? Bludger? Golden Snitch?

"No, not at all." Ed answered

"Oh just watch and you'll see." Hermione had finished.

Ed looked out to the Quidditch field where the seven team members for each team were coming out. Each one of them were carrying a broom at their side as they took different positions. Ed was once again scratching his head at this wondering what the brooms were for, but that was soon answered when each player mounted their broom and took flight. The very second that Edward saw the Quidditch players in flight; he understood why the goal hoops were at that height. Coupled with that was a bubbling in Ed's stomach that came out bursting out of his mouth and he was on his back laughing. He was laughing so hard that he didn't see the nearby Gryffindors staring at him wondering what he found so funny.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ed shrieked in his laughter.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other very confused by Ed's reaction.

"What the bloody hell is so funny?" Ron demanded

"Playing…" Ed tried to say but kept breaking into laughter when the words formulated in his mind, "Playing…a sport…on flying broomsticks!"

"What about it?" Hermione asked as she noticed the increasing number of Gryffindors who were staring in their direction.

"This has to be the funniest sight I've ever seen!" Ed cried out not knowing how important Quidditch was to the other students.

He finally calmed down as the game had gotten started. He watched the game for a few minutes as the players had passed the ball (The Quaffle) back and forth trying to score through the other teams hoops. It didn't take too long for Ed to figure out the game at that point. He understood the chasers, then watched the Beaters whack around the bludgers keeping them away from their respective teammates, and the keeper who was just a goalie. Yet, Ed wondered about Malfoy and Harry since they were floating stationary for a moment until Harry started to zoom across the field like a falcon soaring down on a mouse.

"He sees the snitch!" Ron cheered as the Gryffindor supporters got back into the rhythm of their spirit lifting song.

THUMP-THUMP-CLAP

THUMP-THUMP-CLAP

THUMP-THUMP-CLAP

Ed had watched Malfoy and Harry zoom, zip, and fly over the field like a couple of flies trapped in a room. Then again at the distance that they were at they did look like flies. He remembered Ron telling about a ball called the Golden Snitch, that it was fast and hard to see. Then Ed had to laugh a little that Harry must have great glasses if he can see the Snitch.

As he continued to watch the game Ed saw how truly chaotic it was, the chasers with the Quaffle, the Keepers at the goals, the Beaters with the Bludgers, and the Seekers looking for the Snitch. It came to the point where Ed started to wonder how the teams coordinated their actions. That much was especially true with the chasers who kept flying back and forth around the field. Ed had become amazed by the way the game went that he asked over the roar of the crowd:

"Who's winning?"

"Gryffindor!" Ron answered, "If Harry gets the Snitch, then we'll win the game!"

In light of that information, Ed then turned his eye onto Harry who was still being chased by Malfoy. Had Ed been there the previous years, he'd know that this was the most fierce that Malfoy has ever played. Perhaps it was the humiliation inflicted upon him by the Gryffindor's that he decided that his retaliation would be exacted on the Quidditch field. Malfoy came up on Harry's tail, until Harry made a sharp turn to keep his sight on the Golden Snitch. Through attentive watching, Ed saw Harry reach out to grab something that was in mid-air. Malfoy was coming up on his side and doing the same. Both players reaching out with all their might until Harry's fingers had clasped upon something and he retracted his hand keeping it close to his body while his other hand steered his broom. He floated in mid-air for only half a moment before he raised his hand up in a triumphant display. He had it.

"Harry Potter has caught the snitch!" The announcer blared, "Gryffindor wins!"

The entire Gryffindor stand started to cheer in one great wave as Harry held the snitch above his head and his teammates took a victory lap around the field. All the while, the Slytherin players and supporters sulked in their great defeat. Back in the stands, Ed had stood up to see, but because of his height, he had to stand on the stadium bench to see the victorious players.

Just as Ed was taking in the atmosphere of true victory it was soon short lived for above the roar of the crowd came an even louder roar, but this one wasn't human. It came over the Quidditch players and attendees like a cold wind and robbed them of their joyous celebration. Everyone looked in the direction where the roar came from and there descending from one of the clouds above the field was a great beast. It was serpent-like with a long body, four legs like those of a lizard, but all along its body were spikes that stretched along its back from the head to the tip of the tail. The body, at first one would think that there were scales, but instead there were bright colored feathers like a parrot or some manner of tropical bird. Its head was definitely lizard-like with its long head and horns that came out around its face. The thing was like that of a dragon, but even then such a comparison would fail with the way the beast looked.

It came down onto the Quidditch field in the way that a snake would glide across sand, swishing its body all around as its great head reached the panicked students and faculty below. The great head, that was nearly the size of a mid-sized car came down upon Harry Potter, instantly knocking him off his broom with its great claws that slashed at the air only hitting the Firebolt broom and smashing it to pieces.

As Harry fell to the ground only two people drew their wands; Hermione Granger and Headmaster Dumbledore. Hermione swished and flicked her wand in the direction of the falling Harry:

"_Wingardium__ Leviosa!_" She cried

Instantly, Harry stopped in mid-air, but did not move as he hovered a few inches from the grass covered Quidditch field. At the same time, Dumbledore drew his wand and took aim at the dragon-thing.

"_Petrificus__ totalus!_" he called out and the dragon-thing froze solid in mid-air and softly tumbled to the field below with a solid thump that could have been felt as far away as the depths of the Forbidden Forest itself.

As the students fled the field, Hermione, Ron, Ed, and the other Gryffindor team members went to the unconscious Harry Potter who was gently set down into Hermione's waiting arms.

Edward Elric stood beside the hospital wing bed where Harry Potter slept, waiting with him were Harry's teammates, as well as, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Sandra Locke. They must have been waiting for at least two hours after the match wondering when Harry was going to wake up. Had Ed been there the previous year he'd know that this wasn't the first time Harry had come to the hospital wing after a Quidditch match. Yet, at the same time, there were those who dreaded Harry waking up because of the heart wrenching news that they'd have to deliver. Harry Potter began to stir in his bed, while the other Gryffindors smiled knowing that he was alright, even Ed felt a great relief that the beast hadn't killed him.

"How are you feeling Harry?" Hermione quickly asked sounding as if she wanted to know it more than anyone else there.

"I've had better days," Harry answered as he sat up, "What was that thing anyway? It was…like a dragon, but…at the same time…it wasn't."

"No one knows, Harry," Hermione had answered, "Dumbledore and the rest of the staff are trying to solve that mystery."

"Well," Harry shrugged as he lay back in his bed, "at least we won the match."

"Yes…" Ron agreed nervously as he held Harry's Quidditch robe that contained the news that he really didn't want to deliver, "about your broom, Harry."

Ron unfurled the robe showing the Firebolt room in its broken shame. Harry sat upon once again, his face already on the brink of heartbreak as he took in the devastation of his wrecked broom.

Ed watched all this unfold and knew how important the broom was to Harry simply by how he looked at it. For the first time in a very long time, Ed felt true empathy for what Harry was feeling. He looked down at his gloved hands and formulated a plan.

"Does anyone have chalk?" Ed asked

"What the bloody hell do you need chalk for?" Ron asked in a tone that suggested that Ed was asking something very inappropriate.

"Trust me," Ed demanded, "Where can I get some chalk?"

"Here," Sandra said as she held out her hand to Ed that had a piece of writing chalk.

Ed took it with a great grin on his face and got down on his hands and knees to the stone floor of the hospital wing. There he started to draw furiously fast, he drew a circle, then another, and then he stared to add a set of triangles to the outer edge of the circle. Placing the chalk aside he saw that it was done.

"Ron," Ed called, "Bring the pieces of Harry's broom."

Ron still held the pieces of the Firebolt, he looked to Harry and Hermione, his expression asking what should be done. Harry and Hermione silently told Ron that Ed could be trusted after all; there was nothing else that could be lost. Ron took the pieces to Ed where he drew that circle on the floor.

"Are you sure all the pieces are there?" Ed asked Ron as he lay out the broken pieces of the Firebolt within the circle.

"Yeah…" Ron answered, "But what's all this about?"

"It's a transmutation circle," Sandra answered as she watched Ed work.

"A trans-what-circle?" Hermione asked.

"Just watch and you'll see," Sandra answered.

Everyone in the hospital wing peered down at Ed with the pieces of the Firebolt and the transmutation circle. Sitting back, Ed brought his hands to the edge of the circle and the lines that were once white began to glow an irredescent blue that started to overpower the light in the room. Then in the center of the circle, there was a puff of smoke that encompassed the pieces of the Firebolt. With that puff of smoke, the iridescent blue light was gone and the smoke started to clear, and in the circle, instead of the Firebolt pieces, it was whole once again.

"Incredible!" Hermione uttered with her jaw open.

"How did you do that?" Harry asked as Ed brought the newly transmuted Firebolt to him.

"This is what we learn back in my homeland; alchemy," Ed answered with a grin knowing that it was a job well done.

"It not only looks fixed," Hermione observed, "but it looks brand new is if it was just made."

Everyone in the hospital wing was amazed by what they had just witnessed; because they knew that not even magic could repair the kind of damage it was in. Harry remembered when his Nimbus 2000 was shattered and there was no amount of magic to fix it, and here's Ed who drew a simple circle and viola it was complete again.

"Can you teach this?" Harry asked Ed.

"You want to learn alchemy?" Ed asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yes," Harry answered

"Me too," Hermione added.

"Count me in too," Ron smiled.

"Hey!" Sandra objected, "I asked him first and he turned me down."

"You make it sound like you wanted to date him," Hermione answered back.

Sandra quickly blushed, "I…" she stammered, "I just wanted to…learn alchemy from him."

Ed felt embarrassed by the sudden adoration from them only because he displayed something that he was truly good at.

"So, Edward Elric," Sandra said to him delivering an ultimatum, "Are you going to teach us alchemy or not?"

Ed could feel the pressure as the eyes of the eager minds had looked to him wanting and hungry for the knowledge that only he could give them. He already could feel the memory of Armony's death coming back over him, yet at the same tie the old antonym came to mind. _Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it._ Looking at the prospective new students, Ed suddenly smiled and thought that his might be his second chance.

"Alright," he said to his alchemy students, "meet in the library on Monday after classes and we'll start."

Sandra started jumping up and down shrieking like she won the greatest prize in the world, but she never seemed happier when Edward Elric, Fourth Year Gryffindor, had become the unofficial professor of alchemy.

That night, while everyone in Gryffindor Tower had gone to bed, Ed stayed up in the common room and in the light of the roaring fire he began writing out his letter to Al:

_Dear Al,_

_ You wanted to know more about this place I'm in, __Hogwarts__School__ of Witchcraft and Wizardry, there is so much to tell, but I don't think that telling it to you in this letter will compare to how I had experienced it._

_ First, there are the people that you wanted to know about, the first one that I want to tell you about is Hermione Granger, I swear to you Al, this girl is just like Sheska. I'd be willing to bet that if you'd left those two alone together they'd get along like paper and ink. Hermione is just as mousey and just as knowledgeable as Sheska, in fact it wouldn't surprise me if Hermione has a photographic memory like her. _

_ Then there's Ron Weasley, I think that you'd like him Al, in fact, now that I think about it, he is a little like you though Ron is a little more…goofy than you, Al. _

_ Finally, there's Harry Potter, I don't know it for sure Al, but I have a pretty good feeling that Harry's past is similar to our own, that he too has met, faced, and gone through tragedies like ours. When I first met him, I noticed a scar on in the shape of a lightning bolt on his forehead and I instantly felt some kind of connection to him. I don't know if I'm right about it, but maybe I'll find out. _

_ Al, you won't believe the crazy things that I see in this place, ghosts walking around casually as if they were actual people, paintings that move within their frames, but the latest tops them all. I had watched a game called Quidditch, which is played entirely on flying broomstick. I know it sounds ridiculous, but you do get into the game after a while, I'll tell more in the next letter. _

_ As for the search, there's still nothing to be found, but I'll find that book._

_Your brother,_

_Ed_

There was a great amount of unrest at Hogwarts as talk about the creatures that attack the students had spread. There was curiosity about what they were, where they came from, and most of all, why they kept coming to Hogwarts at all. There was also suspicions and conspiracy theories (mainly around the Slytherin table) that Hagrid is the one setting loose these monsters. Even after hearing Malfoy retell his "horrific encounter" with Hagrid's beasts. Then again, the other Slytherin's were the only ones that would isten to him after his humiliation in, what was known as, "The Shrieking Shot".

Even with all the talk that was going around, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Sandra waited in anticipation for classes to be over so that they may learn the subject known as alchemy.

After their last class, the four of them headed straight for the library where they were already students who were working on their homework assignment. More than likely they were mostly from Snape since he did have a tendency for rather excessive homework giving. The four Gryffindors then set out to look for their unofficial professor, Edward Elric who had taken a seat in a far and distant corner of the library where the books on alchemy were shelved. They each took seats around the table where Ed was looking at them with an anticipated look that seemed to convey the message of "let's get this over with".

As they sat down, Ed had "surveyed" his eager students and he began the lesson by saying:

"I'm not going to be as bad as the other teachers," He explained, "But once we get the basics down, I'd like to ask that all of you practice. Agreed?"

Edward's students had all nodded in their agreement to his first class rule.

"To begin alchemy," Ed began the lesson, "you must first understand this: _to obtain, something of equal value must be lost,_ this is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange or equivalent trade. If you fail to understand this, then alchemy will not function for you, does everyone understand?"

"So, what you're saying," Hermione interjected, "is that the output must be equal to its input, such as sand into glass."

"That's exactly what I mean," Ed answered sounding slightly annoyed that Hermione understood this right away, "But does everyone else understand this?"

The others nodded, Sandra leaning forward and listening intently, while Harry looked like he was running the principle over and over in his head, and Ron just vacantly smiled and nodded at Edward's question.

"If there are no other questions," Ed continued, "then, let's get started with drawing transmutation circles."

It was like that every Monday from that September month all the way through November when nature itself was starting to close up on itself to allow the snow to fall in thick powdery layers. For most of the week, Ed kept up with his homework, and continued his search for Flamel's journal, until the Mondays when he would be teaching alchemy to his eager students. They seemed to take to it quite easily, that is, Hermione and Sandra, but Harry needed help in sharpening his transmutation circle, while Ron need the most help in getting them down at all.

It was the last Monday of the month of November when during "Defense against the Dark Arts class, that Professor Edward Blackadder had mentioned alchemy in class. The moment that Ed heard the Tattoo Alchemist talk of their craft, he suddenly paid sharper attention than what he did before.

"The science of alchemy," Professor Blackadder began, "started in the roots of philosophy, thus the reason why one of the most sought after artifacts is called _The Philosopher's Stone_. However, in the beginning, alchemy was more of a spiritual science, it was never meant to change anything on a literal level. Even the idea of lead into gold was a metaphor that a person would change from the lead of their ignorance to the gold of enlightenment.

"Even though alchemy has one root of origin, it took two different paths. Here in England, alchemy was replaced with magic, while in the homeland of our classmate, Edward Elric, it became more commonplace."

The lecture had struck a very deep chord with Ed, because for the longest time, he always thought that the science of alchemy was born in the kitchen. At least that's what they always say, but the idea that alchemy was not meant to change anything seemed absolutely ludicrous to Ed, how could alchemy not be meant to change anything? The question was set aside when he came to the library and saw that his eager students had all brought their materials to test their transmutation abilities.

Ed sat down at their usual table; Hermione was the first to start. She had set down her paper that had the transmutation circle drawn upon it and like the others, Hermione's circle had taken its own unique configuration. It was a combination of a circle with a square and four triangles within it in the position like the corners of a book. She set down upon her circle a stack of papers, a large scrap of leather, and a vile of blue that she uncorked and poured over the leather and paper. As soon as the glue was poured over the pile, she placed her hands upon the circle that began to glow in a slightly yellowish light, like candlelight, there was a puff of smoke and in place of the raw materials was a thick leather-bound journal.

Ed smiled, "Very good, Hermione."

The next one for this unofficial alchemy exam was Harry, who set down his transmutation circle which was a configuration of one circle six triangles on the outer edge that had smaller triangles within it, while inside the circle was a six-point star with an additional small triangle in each point. Finally capping off the circle was a small line drawing in the center that was like a thin lightning bolt. Upon his circle, Harry had poured out a small bag of sand, he placed his hands onto the circle, the yellow light came, so did the puff of smoke, and there in the center was a very finely carved and polished chalice.

"He's been practicing," Sandra complemented.

That was when Ron Weasley stepped up and set out his transmutation circle which was basically the same one that Edward and Al had used for whatever use they wanted. In it Ron set a loaf of bread and poured a bowl of sugar onto it. He set his hands on the edge of the circle, the yellow light flashed, and the loaf of bread was there but the sugar was gone.

Ed reached over, tore off a piece of the bread and took a small nibble of it, allowing it to set on his tongue for a few moments to notice any difference in it.

"It's sweet," Ed observed.

Ron shrugged, "I was trying to make a cake."

"Remember for next time, that there's more to a cake then just bread and sugar," Ed told Ron, "But still a good start, and now that leaves you Sandra, let's see what you can do."

Sandra smiled and set down her circle, which looked like a flower drawn as a transmutation circle; an outer circle, a small inner one for the nectar center, and triangles spreading out as the petals. Upon her flower circle, she piled on loose dirt, and setting her hands upon the circle itself, the yellow light shinned, the puff of smoke rose and from the dirt rose a patch of wild flowers of red, yellow, blue, orange, white, and pink.

"Beautiful," Hermione uttered.

"You've all done quite well as beginning alchemists," Ed smiled and then got quite the idea, "you know, perhaps all of you should have second names."

"Second names?" Ron asked

"Yeah," Ed answered, "I had told you that where I come from when an alchemist is accepted, they're given a symbolic second name. Mine being Fullmetal, I think I'll assign each of you unofficial second names."

"Wicked," Ron smiled, "What's mine?"

"Calm down, Ron," Ed laughed, "Give me a second, and I'll think of them."

Ed cupped his chin as he thought about the names of the other alchemists that have come before him and the names that they had; Roy Mustang the Flame Alchemist; Doctor Tim Marco the Crystal Alchemist; Major Alex Louis Armstrong the Strong-arm Alchemist; Brigadier General Basque Graun the Iron-Blood Alchemist; and Shou Tucker the Sewing Life Alchemist. Thinking about the names of all those alchemists, he suddenly had the names at the very tip of his tongue.

"Harry Potter," Ed stated to Harry sounding official about his designation, "I give you the name, _Scar Alchemist._"

Harry had smirked at the name given to him as if he knew that his scar would somehow come up in his alchemist name.

"Hermione Granger," Ed stated, "I give you the name, _Paper Alchemist._"

Hermione nodded at the name already feeling accustomed to it as if she had the name for as long as she could remember.

"Ron Weasley," Ed continued, "I give you the name, _Luck Alchemist_."

Ron smiled, "_Ron Weasley the Luck Alchemist_…I like the sound of that."

"What about me, Ed?" Sandra had asked, "What'll be my name?"

Ed looked at Sandra trying with all his might to push the memory of Armony aside like he had for the past few months, but each time Sandra Locke had transmuted flowers, the memory came back like pain that was outlasting the pain killer. He had already thought of a name, one that he wanted to recommend if Armony became a State Alchemist.

"Sandra Locke," Ed stated convincingly covering up the sadness that was in him, "I give you the name…_Floral Alchemist._"

"I love it," Sandra said with elation and glee at her newly assigned name.

As soon as the joy of their newly given names had subsided, Harry had a question that had been on his mind for a long time since they had started practicing alchemy under the tutelage of Edward Elric.

"Ed?" Harry asked, "There's something about alchemy that I'm curious about."

"What's that?" Ed asked not giving what Harry was about to ask a single second thought.

"Can a human being be made through alchemy?"

Ed could feel himself gasp at that very question, but at the same time he was wondering when one of his eager students would ask that question about one of the most forbidden of subjects. He didn't want to answer that question.

"I think that concludes our lesson for today," Ed stated as he quickly gathered up his books and exited the library without even a second glance back at his students.

To Be Continued…


	8. Christmas at Hogwarts

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal**** Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 8: Christmas at Hogwarts**

Over the next few weeks, Ed had been very silent about Harry's question about whether a human being can be created through alchemy. The lessons in alchemy did continue as they had before, but not with the same kind of enthusiasm on Ed's part. Each time that the subject of human transmutation came up, Ed had tried to dodge answering it anyway that he could.

Though there was one question about the coming time that he had to answer. It was during the Monday before the holiday break and the four Gryffindors were making plans already.

"I think I'll be staying at Hogwarts over Christmas," Hermione told, "What about you, Ed?"

Ed answered only simply, "I have no home to go back to."

They did ask him what he meant by that, and he only answered that it meant what he said that he had no home to go back to. Hearing that, the rest of Ed's eager students decided that they too would stay at Hogwarts and celebrate Christmas with him.

Christmas day had come quickly as Ed had awakened that morning to the wonderful sight of perfect white snow falling delicately to the grounds outside the window as the cold air iced the window panes. Sitting up in bed, Ed just felt good that morning, despite how cold it was and how his auto-mail chilled him where it met his flesh. Even with the cold, Ed still got out of bed with a small bounce towards the window to see how white the world outside had become. Being in such a great mood, Ed wasn't about to get too careless about his cover, making sure that he still had his gloves and socks to hide his auto-mail.

Keeping up his good mood, Ed headed down to the common room where his friends and students were sitting all around the Christmas tree that was setup there. Each of them was in the chairs and enjoying the roaring fire in the fireplace.

"Here he is!" Sandra announced as she leapt out of her chair.

"Happy Christmas, Edward," Harry smiled, "we were beginning to wonder if one of us should come up and invite you down for present opening."

Ed grinned as he came down to watch his friends open up their gifts. Harry and Ron both got knitted sweaters from Ron's mother, Ed had to give a small giggle when he saw the giant letters knitted into them. There was the "R" for Ron and the "H" for Harry. Hermione, on the other hand had gotten a good load of books from both friends and family, ti did seem odd to Ed that Hermione only read non-fiction for fun. He started to have second thoughts when Hermione picked up a brown paper wrapped package.

"Ah, this one is from Ed," She smiled as she opned up the package and read aloud the title, "_Beginning Alchemy,_ Ed how did you find this?"

"I sent a letter to my brother and asked him to get a copy," Ed smiled.

"I also got one from Ed," Harry observed as he opened up another brown paper wrapped package. He looked and took out a pair of Quidditch gloves, shin guards, and even a new Gryffindor Quidditch robe. Yet, as Harry looked at the gloves he noticed his own transmutation circle etched in gold against the leather.

"I had the circle put in there in case you needed to repair anything again," Ed explained.

"Thanks, Ed," Harry smiled, "I know that they'll come in handy."

"there's one from Ed to me," Ron called out pulling up his brown paper wrapped package, "You really didn't spend a lot on wrapping, huh?"

"Well…" Ed said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, "I didn't exactly have time to find wrapping paper since I was kind of rushed."

Ron opened his great rectangular package and pulled out a box that read in bold and gold letters, "Honeydukes Chocolate Assortment."

"Thanks, Ed," Ron said with a mixture of awe, amazement, and gratitude.

"Though the guy at Honeydukes told me not to eat them all at once," Ed explained recalling his Christmas shopping trip into Hogsmeade, "He told me that chocolate this good should be savored slowly."

"Right," Ron said in a tone that seemed to say that he was too distracted by the treats before him to hear the warning.

"And here's one from Ed to little ol' me," Sandra said as she took to her gift and unwrapped a book that made Sandra smile in such a way that it seemed like she had never been happier until that very moment when she read the title, "_Beginning Alchemy!"_

"You did say you were trying to find books on Alchemy," Ed had said to her, and the moment that he said that Sandra crossed the common room with the books in her hand as she threw her arms around Ed's neck to hug him.

Ed could feel his face starting to heat up from the inside from Sandra's embrace and the moment that Sandra had broken the embrace, he could feel the eyes of the room turn to him. He looked around to see a look in his friends as if they had something planned for him.

"Now for your gifts, Ed," Hermione said as she stepped forward with a small package that was wrapped in red paper and a gold ribbon.

As Ed received it he suddenly felt a little embarrassed but his curiosity wanted to know and with his curiosity peaked, he opened Hermione's gift and found a brand new pair of white gloves.

"Thanks Hermione," Ed smiled knowing that he wanted to put them on but that would mean showing his auto-mail hand.

"And here's mine, Ed," Ron said as he handed Edward an oddly shaped package wrapped in red, green, and white stripped paper.

Ed took it and felt how soft the package was underneath the paper. He tore at the paper and found a red finely knitted sweater that had a lions head knitted to the top left part of it. Ed pulled it away from the package and found a box of chocolate cauldrons hidden within the sweater. As Ed set the box he looked at the rest of the sweater and found his symbol of the cross and snake knitted in gold on the back.

"The sweater is from my mom," Ron explained, "but the cauldrons are from me, they say that they have fire whiskey in them."

"Fire whiskey?" Ed asked

"How did you get that?" The outraged Hermione asked, "you can't buy those until you're sixteen!"

"I had Fred and George send them," Ron smirked in a way that he did after winning a game of wizards' chess.

"Well now, it's my turn," Harry said as he handed Edward his gift that was wrapped in gold paper.

Ed opened up the gold paper and found a white box very similar to what department stores wrap newly bought clothes in. Opening the box, Ed found something that at first looked like a jacket, but as Ed pulled it out of the box he saw that it _was _a jacket, a long black jacket with a lining of the deepest red that shinned like fine satin or silk.

"It's a special coat, Ed," Harry had told, "It adjusts to you depending on how warm or cold you are."

"And last, but hopefully not least, my gift," Sandra smiled as she handed a small box to Edward.

Ed opened it and found a necklace inside, a silver chain that had a red stone attached to it. He pulled it out and looked at the stone seeing that carved into it was a transmutation circle. Ed looked at Sandra a little confused by what it was.

"Its rose quartz," Sandra explained, "I read that the Philosopher's Stone was originally just rose quarts with symbols carved into it. So, I figured that this'd be a nice gift to have."

"It is," Ed smiled as he slipped the necklace over his head to hang his rose quartz stone around his neck.

Ed smiled at his friends for it was the first time in a very long time that he had received gifts like the ones that he had received that Christmas morning, but it still wasn't over just yet. As the five Gryffindor's were cleaning up the common room they heard a tapping at the window. They looked and found an owl there; in fact, it was Edward's Owl, Tweety.

The closest one being Harry, he opened the window letting in the owl and a small gust of snow. The owl was carrying three packages from its claws and set them down in front of Edward before taking perch on the mantle above the fireplace. Each package that Ed received was in different shapes and he went for the first parcel, which felt the heaviest.

"Gifts from your school?" Hermione asked

"Yeah," Ed answered, "this one's from Winry."

"Girlfriend?" Sandra asked inquisitively.

"Nah, she's more like my mechanic," Ed chuckled.

"Mechanic for what?" Harry asked

"Just something that needs regular maintenance," Ed answered as he opened the box to find an emergency mechanics kit, complete with Phillips and blade screw drivers, wrenches, and small oil can. Looking at it, Ed couldn't help but say, "If only she'd think about my human parts and not my mechanical ones."

"What'd you mean?" Ron asked

"Winry loves machines," Ed answered, "She loves to take things apart to see how they work."

"Dad would love her," Ron sighed, "My dad has a fascination with muggle things."

"Yeah," Ed chuckled, "Maybe she should visit him."

Ed then went for another one of the parcels that the owl had brought; it was the smallest box that Tweety had brought. He opened it and found a small teddy bear that had fit into the palm of his hand. It wore a Santa hat with a ribbon and a card around its neck. Ed opened it up and read what was inside;

_A small teddy bear for a small kid on the lonely nights._

_ - Roy Mustang. _

Ed clutched the teddy bear half-laughing and half-angry.

"That guy really loves to make fun of my height," Ed said.

"Who sent that?" Sandra asked.

"Roy Mustang," Ed answered, but then cleverly added, "One of the staff members at my school."

"A small teddy bear for a small kid on lonely nights," Hermione read over Ed's shoulder, "Now that's just cruel."

"You think?" Ed asked sarcastically as he went to open the very last parcel that was brought. It was long and oddly shaped, but Ed noticed a card with it, he first went to it and opened it, he read it allowed:

_I think you might have fun with this. _

_ - Al_

"Who's Al?" Harry asked

"My little brother," Ed smiled, "I wonder what he sent."

Upon asking that, he tore hungrily into the parcel wrapping anxiously awaiting to see what his brother had sent to him, he looked at his gift feeling amazed and confused at the same time. While his friends looked in awe at what Ed held in his hands, it was a broomstick, but Ron Weasley knew what it was instantly.

"That's the new _Starwind__ XPS Racing Broom_," He said sounding shocked to see it up close, "I heard that it's as fast as the Firebolt but it makes sharper turns. We've got to take this down to the pitch and try it out."

Ed had to admit that he loved the look of it and was starting to wonder what it would feel like to fly on it. It certainly went without saying that it was the greatest holiday that Edward Elric had ever celebrated and he knew that after this was all over, he would have some very fond memories to take back and tell his brother about.

They did just as Ron had suggested, in the snow of Christmas Day, they went down to the Quidditch field, Harry with his Firebolt and Edward with his newly acquired Starwind broom. The two boys took off from the ground and of course Harry flew with such east, and Ed at first felt awkward in mounting the Starwind, but he took to it very quickly the second that he got off the ground. The moment that he had, the feel for the broom, he chased after Harry, and Ron was right that he was keeping up with Harry as far as speed went. Feeling the cold starting to numb them they made their landing.

"Thanks," Ed said as they headed back to the castle for breakfast.

In the days after Christmas, before school started back up again, it was an opportunity to finish the school work he had which continued to annoy him, except potions, that was if the teacher wasn't Snape. Still, Ed had managed to finish the work rather quickly, which gave him plenty of time to continue his search. Unfortunately, to his great dismay, he had finished searching the library, even in the restricted section, with permission he got from Professor Blackadder, but still there was nothing there.

It was the end of an early January day when Ed had come to the end of the search, he sat in the usual corner of the library he had when he did school work and taught alchemy. He started to sulk a little bit when he ran over the search in his head. He tried to think of someplace that he overlooked or perhaps didn't look hard enough. With each possibility he thought of he came to another mental dead end and that only made his sulking even worse.

As he sunk in his chair, Ed reached up to pull off his white gloves that Hermione gave to him for Christmas. Setting the gloves aside he looked at his hands, one flesh and blood, the other metal and oil.

"God must have a really cruel sense of humor," Ed whispered aloud, "Just when it's within my reach; he yanks it away from me…"

He continued to look at his hands, flexing both sets of fingers of flesh and metal as he thought about getting some help to search again. Yet, he discarded the idea already knowing that he had to keep his cover and getting any kind of help would compromise the case. Thinking to that point, Ed didn't want to think any further of what would happen if his cover were to be compromised. He continued to look at his hand and thought about his brother back in Central.

"Al…" Ed whispered, "what am I supposed to do?"

Ed truly felt sorry for himself as he looked at his arm when a very familiar and feminine voice said to him:

"So…that's why they call you the _Fullmetal__ Alchemist._"

Ed snapped his attention to where the voice came from and he found his friends, classmates, and students standing near the table. All of them looking at Edawrd with very shocked expressions, and he knew that they were looking at his ungloved hand. Ed's first instinct made him hide his auto-mail hand in his robes, but he could already see that his secret was out.

"What happened to your arm, Edward?" Harry asked sounding horrified by what he was seeing.

Ed took out his auto-mail arm and looked to his friends and felt that there was nothing to loose by telling them since the search was unsuccessful. He stood up at his table, gathered up his books, and his gloves.

"I think…" he began, "it'll be better if I tell you back in the common room."

Ed didn't bother to put his gloves back on, he simply led the way back to Gryffindor Tower without so much as a glance back at his friends. They had reached the common room, and Ed had gone to put his books in his room. He came back and sat down near the fireplace and began to take off his robe. Setting the robe aside, next came his tie, and shirt until he was exposed before his friends in only his pants and tank top that exposed his auto-mail arm, while he took off his socks to expose his auto-mail leg.

"So, it's not just your arm," Harry observed.

"Yes," Ed answered sounding as melancholic as ever, "my limbs are a reminder to me."

"A reminder of what?" Sandra Locke asked.

"To tell that story," Ed began as he sat back, "I have to begin with this: _mankind cannot gain anything without sacrificing something in return. To obtain…something of equal value must be lost…_you all know this as Alchemy's First Principle of Equivalent Exchange. In those days…we truly believed that to be the world's one…and _only_ truth…"

Edward must have spoken for over an hour, only taking breaks to have small sips of water, while his friends threw more logs onto the fire. He told them everything from the beginning, the alchemy of him and Alphonse, their father, their mother, how she died, and how on that faithful night in October they tried to bring her back.

"We knew the laws of Equivalent Exchange," Ed continued, "the game required sacrifice, but we didn't think they was anything more we could loose…_we were wrong…_"

Ed had told how his younger brother lost his body in the transmutation along with Ed's left leg and how he used his right arm to attach his brothers' soul to a suit of armor. Hearing all this, Harry felt as if he and Ed truly shared something in common, while Hermione, Ron, and Sandra continued to look at Ed and his false limbs with astonishment.

Coming close to the end of his story, Ed reached into his pocket and pulled out the silver pocket watch that had the kings emblem imprinted onto its outer casing. He displayed it to his friends like the badge of his rank that it was.

"I had made my decision to become a state alchemist," Ed continued and not sparring any detail, "Even though it was human transmutation that we were after, we still wanted to try. On that day, we burnt down our family home and all the familiar things inside…_because some things aren't meant to leave trances._"

Ed had finally come to the end of his story, he took sips of water and looked at his friends who all had looks as if they had been told the most unbelievable truth. Still, there was one thing that he had to say to his friends.

"Harry," Ed called to him as he brought up his metallic arm to display his gruesome mark, "This is what happens when you try to bring back what's dead…"

He looked at Harry's face to see the frightened disappointment that the boy had to find all this out.

"Believe me," Ed stated with earnest, "no matter how bad you may want it, alchemy won't bring back what's dead."

"You don't know the whole story," Hermione came to Harry's defense, "when Harry was a baby, his mother and father were taken from him, killed by the darkest of all wizards, Lord Voldemort. Yet, when he tried to kill Harry, he survived leaving the lightning bolt scar on his forehead, and all this time he has been living with the most terrible of muggles. Forced to live under the stairs like some kind of dirty secret until he came to Hogwarts, this was the only true freedom he could have."

Harry was surprised by the amount of sympathy that Hermione was displaying for him, never before has she done something of that magnitude for him. Even though he didn't know it then, he was starting to see something very different in Hermione Granger.

Yet, as Hermione ended the story of Harry's tragedy, she looked at Ed and told, "You know, perhaps the magic that we have can re-grow your arm and leg."

Instantly, Ed felt outraged by this.

"Your magic may give me my arm and leg back," He snapped at Hermione, "but what about my brother? Can magic bring him back his body?"

Hermione didn't answer, for the first time, she didn't have a good enough answer for such a question.

"What do you plan to do now?" Harry asked

"As I said, I'm searching for the Philosopher's Stone," Ed had explained, "And now I have to find Flamel's Journal in the library here."

"Maybe we can ask Dumbledore about it," Harry suggested.

"No," Ed shook his head, "This mission is undercover, because of the shaky diplomatic relations between our countries, it wouldn't look good if a state alchemist, like me, came to this country only to search for the Philosopher's Stone."

"So what will you do now?" Sandra asked sounding piteous.

"I'll move forward," Ed answered as he got up from his chair and gathered up his clothes, "I'll keep searching the library myself, I don't are if it takes me the rest of the year…_I will find that book._"

Edward headed off to the boys dorm, but before he climbed the staircase, he turned back to look at Harry and that score on his forehead.

"You know, Harry," Ed said to his friend, "In my search for the stone, I've met a lot of people who kept telling me that I was just like them. It was never true until now…now I've met someone who is truly like me, not because of how we are now, but because of the tragedies we've had to endure."

With that, Ed had gone up to the boys' dorm to get some sleep. Ron Weasley wasn't too far behind him, and neither was Sandra. While Harry and Hermione stayed in the common room. Harry kept staring into the fire thinking back over everything that Ed had told him. He agreed with him, that they _were _both marked, Harry with his scar, and Ed with his metal limbs.

"Harry," Hermione called.

Harry didn't say anything; he only turned to look at her with his sad green eyes behind his round lens glasses.

"I know how bad you wanted to bring back your parents," Hermione expressed her sympathy.

Harry's eye looked apathetic, "You have no idea how I feel…"

He looked back towards the fire when Hermione snapped, "Yes, I do!"

Harry turned to Hermione to say what she meant, but he was cut off when Hermione leaned in to press her lips against his. At first Harry was shocked, but then it melted away as he closed his eyes, his hand reaching up to touch Hermione's face, as his lips met hers. It seemed and felt so right to him, that even though he had that crush for the Ravenclaw, Cho Chang, this truly felt right above all that.

Hermione pulled back and whispered to Harry, "You have me Harry…you'll never be alone."

With that, the two lovers kissed once again with the warmth of the fire heating their skin while the heat of their kiss warmed them from the inside.

To Be Continued…


	9. The Unexpected Visit

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal**** Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 9: The Unexpected Visit**

The days of January had passed as the students came back and classes had started again. January had soon given way to the rather stagnant month of February where winter wasn't quite gone, but spring hadn't yet arrived.

Edward Elric had done just as he had told his friends that he would move forward and continue his search for Flamel's book, no matter how long it took. Even though he had said that with such conviction, doing it became much harder than how it sounded. In those times, Ed had started to wish that his brother was there to try to give him some kind of moral support. Instead, Edward Elric had gotten quite the surprise one Wednesday after classes.

He was in the library where he usually was when he wasn't in classes, sleeping or eating, still conducting his search, when he ran into Harry and Hermione. He did notice that the two of them had been acting differently, always being around each other, having rather gazed looks when they looked at one another, and even though Ed couldn't be completely sure, but he thought he saw them kissing in another corner of the library. It was obvious to Edward that Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were in love with each other, while there were some who expected it, there were some who were in denial about it.

Ed came across the happy couple in the library looking as if they were searching for something, he was about to ask about why they were in the library when from around the bookshelves came Ron Weasley and Sandra Locke.

Ron shook his heard, "Couldn't find it," he reported sadly.

Sandra shrugged, "Neither did I."

"Do you mind telling me what you're searching for?" Ed asked feeling a little left out of whatever was going on.

"Sorry for not telling you mate," Ron apologized, "You see it was Hermione's idea."

"What was?" Ed asked starting to feel a little annoyed by the unfolding event.

"We're going to help you find the book," Hermione explained.

"It is the least we can do to pay you back for teaching us alchemy," Harry added.

"With all of us, we'll come through this library and find that book," Sandra finished.

Ed had smiled at all of them truly feeling happy because he not only had friends, but he also felt that he was not along at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He even felt the truth that they wouldn't' tell anyone else about it. After all, once Ed gave it a little more serious thought, there were just students looking for one special book.

It had been two weeks since this cadre of Gryffindors had joined Ed in his search, except for that one special day in February, Valentine's Day. Since this holiday wasn't celebrated in Ed's country, Ron and Sandra had to explain it to him since Harry and Hermione had gone to Hogsmeade to spend Valentine's Day together. Ed could only imagine the fun they had since the two of them came back from Hogsmeade looking as if they had never been happier in their whole lives. The sentiment was felt all around the Gryffindor table at dinner time, there was even a toast made Harry and Hermione by Fred and George Weasley. Even though the two were such jokers but when they saw how happy Harry and Hermione were, they couldn't help but have such respect for it.

Even with this wonderful prospect, Ed was still no closer to finding the journal. February was starting to come to a close and Ed knew that he said that he would find that book even if it took him all year. It looked like that would be the very case since the work load for each class was growing more difficult and as the outdoors were starting to warm up, Ed's spirit grew bleaker.

Once again, like that day back in January when the secret about himself was revealed to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Sandra, Ed was sitting in the corner of the library rethinking the search. He started to doubt if the book was really there, but just then as he started to doubt, he heard a voice that he didn't want to believe that he heard it.

"Brother?" a young, hollow voice called to him.

Ed slowly turned his head towards where the voice came from and saw that very same suit of armor that held his brothers soul. At the very first glance that he looked up at his brother, he wondered if it was truly real.

"I must have lost my mind," Ed commented, "I'm starting to hallucinate that you're here, Al."

"I'm no hallucination, brother," Alphonse Elric said his voice half-smiling and half-informing, "I really am here."

Ed smiled while at the same time, he felt like crying but he had to ask:

"What made you come here, Al?"

"It's your birthday tomorrow, brother," Al explained, "And I thought that it would be a great present if I came."

"Yes, it is," Ed smiled, "but how did you manage to get here?"

"I made a deal with Colonel Mustang," Al explained, "But how I got here…I'd rather not say."

Ed scoffed, "You know Al I'm surprised you weren't allowed to come with me when I started this case."

"Why do you say that, brother?"

"You wouldn't be that conspicuous here," Ed explained with a grin, "In this place they have ghosts, paintings that move in their frames, weird creatures, and even stranger plants. So, being a walking suit of armor wouldn't stick out that much."

"Yeah," Al responded in agreement, "I thought the same thing from the letters that you sent."

"It's funny, Al," Ed chuckled slightly, "It's been months since we saw each other and yet we're acting as if we saw each other yesterday."

"I guess that's the bond that brothers have, Ed."

"Hey, Ed," Ron Weasley called, "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

Ed and AL looked to find the four Gryffindors standing near the table, all of them looking at Alphonse Elric with looks of both amazement and some puzzlement.

"Well, Al," Ed grinned once again, "Here they are, the people I told you about. The one in the glasses is Harry Potter."

"Nice to meet you," Harry greeted.

"The one with the red hair is Ron Weasley," Ed introduced.

Ron smiled rather intimidated at the large size of Alphonse Elric.

"The brown hair girl is Hermione Granger," Ed continued.

"Pleasure," She acknowledged to Al.

"And finally, Sandra Locke," Ed Finished.

"You must be Alphonse," Sandra stated looking up at Al in total awe, "Ed's younger brother."

"Younger?" Ron asked, "isn't it supposed to be the other way around with how huge he is?"

Ed's blood boiled instantly.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHORTIE!" Ed snapped at Ron.

"SHHHH!" Hermione answered back keeping in mind that they were in a library.

"Take it easy mate," Ron whispered trying to calm the situation, "I didn't mean it like that."

"So, what brings you to Hogwarts?" Harry asked Al.

"It's Ed's birthday tomorrow," Al explained.

"We know that," Hermione smiled, "and tomorrow we'll have a really special dinner planned."

The dinner in the Great Hall seemed extra special to Ed. At the table were several dishes that were among some of Ed's favorites. There was even a cake that read "Happy Birthday, Edward," on it with the candles still burning on it waiting for Ed to blow it out.

"Happy Birthday, Edward Elric!" They all said as they took their seats.

Whiel everyone else ate dinner, the friends of Edward Elric began the birthday dinner and all of them sharing stories of their past exploits. Harry, Ron, and Hermione told their stories from the past three years, while Ed and Al told their stories from their time being involved with the state. Ed had to admit that he found that he was laughing when he was retelling his own stories despite the tragedy that he had in his life. He also had to admire Harry and his friends for the things that he heard about from them. It was a wonder that children like them could do such things, but then again Ed had to remind himself that he became a state alchemist when he was only 12 years old.

The dinner came to a close, while some of the school tables left to go back to their dormitories, Ed, Al, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Sandra stayed to finish the birthday celebration.

"Now for the presents," Harry said as he pulled out a red and gold checkered wrapped box and handed it over to Ed.

Ed peeled off the wrapping of Harry's gift and smiled when he read the label on the box – _Quidditch__ Gear._ He looked further to read that the set included shin guards, shoes, gloves, goggles, and even team robes.

"Thanks, Harry," Ed smiled as he cleared the part of the table in front of him to set the box.

"I only hope that you can play Quidditch back home," Harry said sounding concerned, "I think that they'd love it back there."

Ed grinned, "I think that they might," but then Ed started to feel like laughing when he was trying to imagine Colonel Roy Mustang flying around on a broomstick.

"Here's mine, Ed," Hermione stated politely as she handed a package that was wrapped in a dull silver paper. Ed took the present and started to open it up, but when the package was all clear, Ed's eyes widened and he could only let out one phrase:

"Wow, Hermione," he uttered as he held a sleek black leather case with silver works stamped across it that read: _Broomstick Service Kit._

"I gave one to Harry about a year back," Hermione explained, "I figured you could use one too."

"Thanks Hermione," Ed thanked cheerfully as he opened up the case to find various items needed for broom care. There was a jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish, a pair of gleaming silver Tail-Twig Clippers, a tiny brass compass that fits onto the broom for long journeys, and a _Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare._

"And here's my gift," Ron said as he handed to Ed a package that was poorly wrapped in brown paper. Ed took it and began to peel back the paper and held in his hand a rectangular box that had in red gothic letters: _Wizards Chess Set._

"I'm a pretty good player," Ron told, "So, if you need someone to teach you how to play, just ask."

"Don't worry," Ed grinned, "I definitely know how to play and I'd be willing to take you on."

"Now, don't let that go to your head brother" Al warned.

Sandra gave a small giggle before Ed gave her a rather annoyed glance, she then gained control of herself when she said, "Here's my gift."

Sandra then leaned in and pressed her lips to Edward's. All around the table people stared when it happened, it seemed to come from out of nowhere and yet Sandra looked as if she had planned it all along. Ed on the other hand felt so warm on the inside as well as in the skin of his face as if that one kiss had set a fire throughout his body. Never before had he felt so good in one moment as Sandra pulled back to whisper:

"Happy Birthday, Ed."

After dinner, everyone had gone back to their respective towers and dormitories, while Ed and Al (after setting aside the presents that he received) had gone back to the library in its final hour of the day. The brothers came to that little corner of the library where Ed had done his school work as well as taught alchemy and conducted his search for Flamel's Journal.

"So, brother," Al started, his voice sounding very mournful, "You haven't been able to find Flamel's Journal?"

"No, Al," Ed answered, his head sunk, even though he still felt so warm because of Sandra's kiss, the fact of his search still loomed over his head like a vastly approaching deadline. "All this time, I've searched this library, and there isn't anything here. I thought about asking this guy, Dumbledore, about it, but he's Flamel's friend, for all I know he could be in on it."

"You don't know that for sure, Ed," Al pointed out to his brother, "maybe he does know something."

Ed shook his head, "It's too risky to compromise the security of this mission."

Out of his own frustration, Ed had shoved his hands into his robes pockets and he felt something there. He pulled it out to find it was a pair of the see-through glasses he bought at Zonko's joke shop.

"Ed," Al asked, "Are those the glasses that you were telling me about? Can they really see through things?"

"Have a look, Al," Ed had told as he handed his brother the glasses. Al had tried to slip them over the helmet but allowing his eyes to see through the magical lenses. He looked at his brother who was then only in his underwear and Al pulled them up to see Ed's clothes had returned.

"These things really do work," Al said with amazement as he slipped them back over his eyes again, but as he looked he saw something odd in the bookcase behind Ed. The glasses saw past the books to the wall behind it and there on one of the shelves, Al had seen a brick that was out of place.

"What is it, Al?" Ed had asked knowing that Al had found something.

"There's a brick that's out of place," Al explained as he went to the shelf, removed all the books, and saw the out of place brick. It looked the same coloration as the others, but it looked loose, as if the mortar around it had been chipped away while it sat out of place with the others. Al reached in and pulled the brick away to find that the brick gave way to reveal a secret compartment behind it. Inside the secret hole in the wall was a book covered in spider webs, Al reached in and pulled it out. The book was as thick and as wide as the brick that he pulled out, it was leather bound with a very elegant and elaborate transmutation circle embossed into the front leather cover. Al wiped the dust and spider webs off of it as his brother watched.

"Brother," AL called sounding like he was trying to contain his excitement, "I think I found it."

Ed lifted the book from Al's hands and opened it smelling that dirty whiff of the dust that had piled onto it for the untold time that it was in that hiding place. Upon opening the book, Ed had found charts, notes, and hand-drawn transmutation circles. Each section was written like a personal journal and each section ended with the name:

_Nicholas Flamel_

"You found it, Al," Ed smiled, "You found Flamel's Journal."

After the excitement of discovering Flamel's Journal, Ed and AL headed back to Gryffindor Tower. They wanted to tell their friends about the discovery that they had made, but they had already gone to bed. So, the Brothers Elric stayed up in the Gryffindor Common Room discussing their next move.

"Just think of it, Al," Ed grinned in his euphoria, "We can finally be put back into the flesh."

"But what are we going to do once we're flesh and blood again, brother?" Al asked

"You know…" Ed began, sounding as if he lost a little of his euphoria with that very question, "I hadn't thought that far ahead just yet."

"There's also the matter with Nicholas Flamel himself," Al pointed out.

"You're right, Al." Ed agreed sounding as if he lost all of his euphoria from being a step closer to his ultimate goal, "Flamel needs to be brought to the attention of the Wizarding Authorities, we just need to prove that he's still alive and possibly making another stone."

"How are we going to do that?" Al had asked.

Ed grinned once again, "We'll worry about that later, right now I have to write the report to Mustang…if he doesn't already know that we've found it."

Ed's grin vanished just as quickly as it appeared when he thought about his egotistical boss, Roy Mustnag. Still, Ed wasn't going to allow that man to infer upon his victory, but as he thought about it, it was truly Al who had helped him achieve it, and that made him think that if Al had come with him sooner, the investigation wouldn't' have taken so long. Then he thought about going back to his home country and leaving behind his new friends at Hogwarts. Once again, he felt a little saddened at that thought, even though eh found the entire wizard world to be so blatantly juvenile at first, he was thinking that he would truly miss all of it.

To Be Continued…


	10. Flamel's Castle

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal**** Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 10: Flamel's Castle**

During the next day, Edward Elric went through his regular classes with Al at his side. Of course, the others did wonder why Alphonse was wearing a suit of armor, but that was quickly set aside when they commented on how much taller Alphonse was to Ed, even if he was his younger brother. Still, the comments about his height were set aside when Ed told his friends after classes in the library that he found Nicholas Flamel's journal.

"What are you going to do now?" Harry asked

"First, I need to send a report to Colonel Mustang," Ed explained but then grimaced, "If he doesn't know about it already."

"Sounds like he and Hermione would get along like a house on fire," Ron commented.

"Watch it," Hermione sneered.

"But if you tell that you have the book," Sandra added, "Doesn't that mean you'll have to go back home?"

Ed had hoped that this part wouldn't come up in his good news to his friends. He already went through this kind of anguish in his head about the fact that he'd be leaving behind his new friends. He started to wonder if he should have told them about finding it in the first place, but then he thought that it would be worse because they were his friends and he had to tell them what he thought.

"Yeah," Ed answered, "I'll have to go back home, once I sent the report to Mustang, but the other part of this investigation is that we have to verify if Flamel is still alive, and if he is, is creating a new stone, we'll have to bring him to the authorities."

Sandra h ad suddenly stood up from her chair, knocking it backwards to the stone floor. Everyone around the table and in the library looked towards her. Her fists were clenched so tightly that they were turning slightly pink, just like her face was streaming with tears. She must have stood there for at least half a minute before she dashed from the table to the library door like a rabbit dashing down into its hole leaving her friends feeling very confused by her actions, at least Ed and Alphonse were.

"What was that all about?" Ed asked

"You really don't get it, do you?" Hermione answered back.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked

Hermione took a deep breath to let out her frustration before she explained, "Sandra has feelings for Ed, so with the idea of Ed leaving, she'll miss him terribly."

"Maybe I should go talk to her," Ed suggested as he got up.

"No, brother," Al added, "the best thing to do now is to let her cool down, besides what do you think you can say that would make her feel better?"

Ed sat back down knowing that Al was right in what he said, still given light to how and why Sandra acted like she did Ed suddenly knew that he would miss the place called Hogwarts. It really was like what Mustang told him, _have fun being a kid for once,_ but it seemed so grim that he would have to go back to that.

Writing a report to Colonel Mustang hadn't been that hard in all the few years that Ed was a state alchemist. Even though there wasn't a great amount to put into the report, just that shortly after the arrival of Alphonse Elric, the journal was discovered. As well as the notice that he would need to stay in order to find Nicholas Flamel and turn him into the proper authorities.

Ed gave the report to his owl, Tweety and the small owl set off into the distance to where the Land of Armestris was located. As Ed watched the owl fly off he stated to wonder how he and Al were supposed to go about finding Nicholas Flamel. It was ironic that after the enormous task of finding the journal was finished, an even greater task was still ahead of them.

Ed had gone back to Gryffindor Tower with Al at his side, the two of them not saying anything as they trekked up the stairs to the Fat Lady's portrait, but before Ed gave the password, Al had spoken up.

"You're thinking about Sandra, Ed," Al pointed out as he looked at Ed' slumping neck during their walk back.

Ed didn't answer, he only stared down at the stone floor.

"Don't worry, brother," Al consoled, "I think that somehow this will work out."

Most optimists say that when they can't think of something really insightful to say. Ed didn't answer back, he only looked up at the portrait of the Fat Lady who didn't say a word to add to the discussion between Al and Ed, only waited for the password.

"_Treguna__ Macoitis…_" Ed spoke the password, the Fat Lady's portrait swung open, and Ed with Al went through the portrait hole to the Gryffindor common room.

Inside the common room near the roaring fire were Harry, Ron, and Hermione studying together. Ron was studying over the table, while Harry and Hermione were sitting intimately close together as they read quietly. They were about to ask Ed how he was, but seeing his face made them each think twice about asking Ed anything, so they simply allowed Ed and Al to continue to the boys dorm.

The Elric's came to the dorm room, but when they opened the door, they found something that shocked them instantly. All over the room were things that were violently out of place, the sheets on the bed looked as if they were yanked off and left to pile on the floor. Ed's trunk was wide open with all its contents scattered on the floor, his books, cauldron, clothes, and other school supplies. His desk at the window had all its drawers pulled out and its contents scattered around the messy floor.

"What happened, brother?" Al asked in shock.

"Looks like someone was looking for something," Ed snarled as he looked around for the clues about who could have done this. That was when a horrifying thought snapped at him. Flamel's Journal. He dove at his trunk scrambling through its contents and scattered remains on the floor.

"What is it, Ed?" Al asked

"Flamel's journal!" Ed gasped as he frantically searched the room, "Flamel's Journal is gone!"

Just as Ed stood up and was about to dash down to the common room, he saw something odd. He looked to the desk and atop it's cleared off surface was a piece of paper that was neatly folded. Ed stepped over the wreckage of what used to be his room to the desk; he reached for the paper, and unfolded it. He gasped as his eyes read the elegantly written words upon it.

"Brother?" Al asked, "What is it?"

Al reached over to get the paper, but Ed's shock was so much that he had let go of the paper without much of a struggle. Upon getting it, Al looked down at the paper and read the words that had transformed his brother into that state.

_I'm sorry, Ed._

_ - Sandra_

Ed and Al dashed down to the common room where the roar of their stampeding footsteps caused Harry, Ron, and Hermione to stand up and stop them.

"What's going on?" Ron asked

"Flamel's Journal," Ed snarled angrily as he clenched the note in his auto-mail hand, "Sandra's stolen it!"

"What makes you think that she stole it?" Hermione asked hoping that her questions would calm Edward down a little.

Ed had shoved out his auto-mail arm to Hermione with the crumpled note in front of her nose. Hermione carefully took the note, opened it up, and read it with Harry and Ron reading over her shoulder. The three of them experienced the same shock and disbelief as they read the words that were elegantly written. Yet, instead of standing there, Harry Potter dashed up the stairs to the boys dorm and in only a short moment, he came back down the stairs with a piece of parchment in one hand and his wand in the other. Coming to the small circle of friends, he held the parchment, tapped his wand to it, and said:

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Ed and Al felt confused by what was going on, but they looked at the blank parchment as ink began to spread into lines, like the blueprints of a building. While atop of it was the title of: _The Marauders Map._

"What's this?" Ed demanded

"A very handy map of Hogwarts," Harry explained, "It shows where everyone is within Hogwarts at every minute of every day. Here we are."

Harry's finger pointed to five dots in a room on the map with banners that read their names: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Edward Elric, and Alphonse Elric.

"And there's Sandra," Harry's finger pointed to a hallway a good distance from Gryffindor Tower.

"And none of you saw her leave?" Ed demanded.

"We did see her leave," Ron explained, "but she seemed pretty bloody upset."

"She's heading for the One-Eyed Witch passageway," Harry interjected, "She's going to Hogsmeade."

"Let's go!" Edward shouted as he dashed out of the portrait hole and followed the maps directions to the One-Eyed Witch portrait with Alphonse, Harry, Ron, and Hermione following closely behind.

"Ed!" Al called, "Wait for us!"

"Is he always like that?" Ron asked Al as he panted from his mad dash after Ed.

"Yes, he is," Al had answered sounding as if he was telling them this in a very disappointed tone.

They came to the One-Eyed Witch passageway and after seeing Ed duck passed the portrait, the others pushed a little harder to follow after him. Yet with each turn, move, and dash they felt that they were only a step behind him. At least until, within the tunnel that led from the One-Eyed Witch portrait, there was a small flicker of light that they knew to be the basement storage of Honeydukes. They came up and found Ed standing looking around trying to find some trace of Sandra. As Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Al came out of the basement trapdoor, the frustration had reached its peak.

"Damnit!" Ed moaned as he clenched his fists.

Just then there was a rusted creek and a loud click, which brought their attention to look up the stairs where in just a flash of the eye they saw the door close. It didn't take too long and Ed bounded up the stairs, threw open the door, looked out over the confused looks of those in Honeydukes sweet shop and he saw the bobbing head of Sandra, exiting the shop. Ed ducked and shoved his way through while behind him Al was the one apologizing in the wake of his brothers shoving.

They came to the main road of Hogsmeade looking all around amongst the pasing and curious crowd to find another clue to the direction of where Sandra went to. The others stood around Ed, each looking in different direction hoping to find Sandra. To Harry Potter, it was like trying to find the Golden Snitch in Quidditch, and with his eagle Quidditch eyes, he found it, the bobbing and shortly cut red hair of Sandra Locke heading down the one road street of Hogsmeade.

"There she is!" Harry called out to the others as he dashed after Sandra like the snitch that would win him the game. The others followed closely behind, even Ed who caught up with Harry and they were keeping a good eye on the escaping Sandra. As Ed dashed alongside Harry, the direction that they were going already seemed familiar; in fact after only ten seconds of running after Sandra, he knew that they were heading toward the Shrieking Shack.

At the instant that Ed made that connection, his dream came back into his head. It was that dream where he was in a room with a singular door standing in the middle of it like some kind of monument or monolith. In that dream where he was reaching for the doorknob at the end, Ed started to wonder why that singular dream was coming up at him like that of all times. Yet he couldn't dwell on it any further as the Shrieking Shack was within sight and Sandra was walking through its front door.

"Why is she going in there?" Ron asked as he panted behind Ed and Harry.

Everything suddenly connected in Ed's mind, he saw it all so clearly. That's where the door was located, the singular door in the basement.

"I know why," Ed said as he stood at the threshold to the Shrieking Shack property while the tohers were still panting.

"Why Ed?" Al asked

Ed didn't answer, he simply started a new mad dash towards the front door of the shack. The others groaned as they followed behind him, entering the Shrieking Shack tasting the stale smell of dust, cobwebs, mildew, and rotting wood. Ed looked around from the crooked doorways, the loose boards that were letting in the light from the outside, and the stairs that looked like they were about to collapse. Ed's eyes then came upon a door that looked somewhat brand new, especially with the multiple locks that were on it.

"This is it," Ed said as he stepped up to the door.

Hermione drew out her wand and was about to perform her spell on the locks, when Edward Elric had beaten her to it as he clasped his hands and set them on the door. In a flash of blue light the door and the locks had vanished but reformed into a finely carved archway with metal fittings that stuck out of the carved wood in the shape of flowers.

"Now you're just showing off brother," Al sighed.

"How did you do that without a transmutation circle?" Hermione asked

"That's just how Ed is," Al answered.

Ed didn't listen to either his brothers' sarcasm or Hermione's question; he headed down the set of stairs that lay beyond the alchemy created doorway. Each step he took, the boards underneath his weight creaked and the sound became worse with Al and their friends following behind, but what they all saw at the bottom of the stairs had shocked and confused them all.

IN the dank, dusty, and cobwebbed filled basement, there was a door. It wasn't a door that was set into a nearby wall, this door stood on it's own in the middle of the room inside its very own frame as if the door was visible and the wall wasn't.

"What the _bloody hell_ is _that?_" Ron asked out of his own exhausted frustration.

"The path that Sandra took," Ed answered as he took his steps towards the door, reached for the handle, turned the knob, and opened the door. From within the crack in the door came a bright yellow light that streaked its way through the dim basement as if it were a god bringing the joyous light to the darkness of the underworld.

Everyone threw their hands or the forearms over their eyes as they tried to adjust themselves to whatever lay through the doorway. Taking their shields away, they looked through the door to see a vast green and gravel stone path courtyard. They each looked in awe at the bizarre sight as Hermione and Edward walked around to the other side of the "Stand alone" door. In the place where they thought they might see the same courtyard viasage, they only saw right through an empty space to their friends who still looked dumbfounded. Ed and Hermione came back and looked in through the doorway to see the courtyard visage.

"Let's go," Ed announced as he was the first to step through the doorway, while Al, Harry, Ron, and Hermione only looked at one another before stepping through the doorway and caught up with Ed on the other side.

On the other side of the doorway, Edward Elric, Alphosne Elric, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger found themselves in a great castle courtyard. The place was so expansive that it could have been the exact (if not larger) size of the Quidditch field. Looking around at the patches of green grass, the lanes of walkways, and the flowerbeds there was already something that didn't seem right about it. The way the grass was cut was too angular, the pathways seemed to go in more directions than necessary, and the flowerbeds was what truly caught the eyes of Ed and Al. There were white flowers with different colored flowers planted along with them in patterns of transmutation circles. That was when Ed looked around and saw that there were circles everywhere in that courtyard, cut into the grassed, and even the walkways were lines of a circle.

Before Ed could relay his discovery to his friends there was great rumble that they all felt. For a moment there was silence, but then came another great rumble like thunder starting to roll in but there was not a single storm cloud in the sky. Once again, there was silence but then came another rumble that was even louder than before. By that time the rumbling was so much that it shook the ground beneath their feet.

"What's going on!" Ron demanded.

They looked and found the answer coming toward them. From the archways of the castle courtyard came not one, not a few, but several dozen enormous chimeras. Ed looked at them and had the unpleasant memory of Heisgart brought back to his mind for the Chimeras were all lumbering, bulbous, slimy, sweating, repulsive, and six legged frogs and toads. Every single one of them had blemishes on their backs that were like barnacles on a whale, but each one of them were spewing smoke and putrid gas like volcanoes. If that wasn't enough, from the sky came unearthly cries that made the young waizards and alchemists turn skyward to see flying Chimeras. There were some that looked like the mixings of bats and sparrows, others were of dragons and birds, but the leader of this flight of winged chimeras was one that had an Eagles head, wings, a lions tail, and feet like some great clawed lizard.

Upon seeing the new chimeras the young Gryffindors each drew their wands, while Edward Elric clasped his hands and from his hidden metal arm came his arm-blade.

"Now that's handy," Harry commented as the chimeras drew closer to them like a mindless lumbering army.

"Yeah," Ed agreed half-heartedly, "but I think that we may be in a little over our heads."

"But we can't give up now that we've come this far," Harry said defiantly.

"You're right, Harry," Ed smiled grinning with a little optimism in an otherwise hopeless situation.

As the chimeras drew closer, there came a new voice that spoke with such thick arrogance.

"Perhaps you could use a hand Fullmetal," the voice said as there was a slight spark at the front line of chimeras and then a great explosion that sent out bloodied and dismembered parts of chimeras in different direction. At the center of the clearing smoke from the explosion was the very man that was called _The Flame Alchemist._

"Colonel Mustang!" Al called out.

The colonel was holding his right hand ready to snap his flame alchemy at whatever approached him, while his other hand was casually in his uniform pocket. He looked to Ed and his friends with that arrogant know-it-all smile that he always had.

"I told you once before, Fullmetal," Colonel Mustang said arrogantly, "fighting requires _rationality_, fighting countless foes will only wear you down before you're beaten senseless!"

He snapped his fingers again, there was the spark, and another explosion that sent out the bloodied parts of the chimeras. As the parts landed near Ed, Al, and their friends another voice called out to bring its support.

"And fighting also requires a sense of _aesthetic beauty!_"

With that the ground shook with a great explosion that sent the chimeras in multiple directions, and the one responsible for it was the shirtless and muscular Strong-arm Alchemist.

"Major Armstrong!" Al called out with joy.

The major began to flex to show off each muscle he had, "A beautiful physique begets beautiful skills and beautiful skills beget beautiful power! BEHOLD! The artistic alchemy that is the Armstrong Family Tradition! Come hither chimeras! You'll regret your decision in due time, I assure you!"

"What a show off…" Hermione commented

"You said it," Ron agreed, "And I thought Lockhart was bad."

"Come on!" A woman's voice called out, "Stop showing off major! We've got work to do!"

Ed looked to his left and standing out from the bushes and flower beds was Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye with the guns drawn and ready to fire.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye!" Al called.

"How did you guys find us?" Ed demanded, "And how the hell did you get here so quickly?"

"That would be thanks to a portkey," Colonel Mustang answered as he snapped his fingers and blew up another set of dumbfounded chimeras, "Courtesy of Albus Dumbledore!"

Harry smiled when he heard that Dumbledore had his hand involved in the situation.

"And we found you thanks to…" Major Armstrong stopped as he slammed his iron gloved fist against a chimera that shattered the creature to pieces.

"Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Blackadder," Blackadder finished as he stepped in front of Ed, Al, Harry, Hermione, and Ron, "I had put a tracing spell on you, Ed, and we followed you like hunters following the hounds,"

"And we needed it with such a small hound," Colonel Mustang added.

"WHO YOU CALLIN' A PIPSQUEAK SO SMALL YOU WANNA CRUSH LIKE AN ANT!" Ed bellowed.

"Now's not the time, Fullmetal," Blackadder snapped calmly at Ed as he began to unbutton his uniform shirt, he then took off his shirt and coat to show his upper body covered in tattoos of transmutation circles that stood by themselves and yet at the same time blended into one another as they stretched from his chest, abs, and arms to his back. "We'll fight the chimeras, you kids head into the castle and find Flamel and Sandra Locke."

"So that's why they call you the Tattoo Alchemist," Ed observed.

"They'll be time for that later!" Blackadder said as he slapped his hand to the ground that ruptured the earth itself as if it were thin ice that toppled the chimeras, "Get going!"

"Got it," Ed smiled as he took off for the great castle in the center of the vast courtyard leaving the state alchemists to fight the chimeras as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Al followed closely behind.

To Be Continued…


	11. Tears in the Crimson Light

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 11: Tears in the Crimson Light**

The chimeras in the courtyard of Flamel's Castle were being well taken care of with the help of Flame, Strong-arm and Tattoo Alchemist along with Riza Hawkeye. As they took on the army, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ed, and Al made the dash for the castle in the center of the courtyard.

There were a few times when one or two of the chimeras came down upon them. The first was a winged chimera that had set its sights upon Harry Potter. Its talons stretched out and ready to snatch the young wizard up like a mouse in the field.

"Expellriamus!" Harry cried out as a blast shot out from his wand and hit the flying chimera straight to the ground where it lay stunned on its back. The creature looked like it still had movement in it and that was when Edward Elric stepped into action.

Ed clasped his hands together retracting his arm blade and the then brought his hands down to the stone pathway where from the blue light he extracted a long and elegantly carved spear. Then just like a knight from a medieval tale, he raised the spear above his head, leaped for the winged Chimera and plunged his spear directly into the creatures' chest. The great fathered beast let out a cry like an eagle that was shot out of the sky as it gasped its last breath with each inch of Edward's spear driving deeper into its chest.

He leapt off of the feathered chimera and came back down to the others, while his boots and pant legs were spattered with the blood of the beast he had slain. Harry was intensely reminded of that night in the Chamber of Secrets when he had slain the beast called the basilisk yet Ed treated the slaying with such casualness as if he had taken care of a household chore.

"Let's keep going," Ed commanded.

No one needed any further encouragement as they continued their dash to the front gates of the castle. Ed had reached up for the metal ring embedded into the carved wooden door that had transmutation circle patterns in it. He pulled as hard as he could upon the metal ring that sent the door flying open revealing darkness within. Without giving it a second look the young wizards and alchemists dove into the darkness within.

Inside, the wizards and alchemists looked around the great front hall by the light that was coming through the front door. By it's light, they saw the great marble staircase that went up to the exposed second floor and the doors around it. Upon the ground floor, there were only two doors that were as large and as elegantly carved as the front door. The wizards and alchemists looked left and right, with no clues as to where they were supposed to go.

"Which door do we take?" Al asked, his voice echoed through the great hall.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Ed answered as he continued to look for some clue or sign that would tell the location of Sandra Locke.

As the others looked, the sharp eyes of Harry Potter looked to the left to the great wooden door and he looked to the crevice between the door and the floor. His eyes started to adjust to the darkness of the great hall and he saw a soft yellow light coming from under the door.

"There!" Harry called out as he dashed for the door, reached for the door knob and flung the door open to let out the yellow light within the room beyond. Inside the yellow light room the wizards and alchemists stood at the threshold of a great library with rows and rows of books all around the geometrically round room. In the center there were chairs and a couch that sat near a fireplace opposite of the door.

Standing there was a very elderly looking man with long white robes, beard, and hair. If Harry hadn't known any better, he'd swear that he was looking at Albus Dumbledore, except there was something about his face that told that it wasn't Dumbldore. Firstly, it was the fact that this man wore no glasses, but it was his eyes, they were so dark and menacing as if the mind behind them were plotting unspeakable schemes.

At this man's side was Sandra Locke herself who had a look of very piteous sorrow. She only looked at Edward with those eyes that were at the verge of tears to tell him how sorry she was for what she had done.

"You're Nicholas Flamel, aren't you?" Ed snarled at the old man.

The old man smiled, his teeth yellow and chipped that gave him an even greater menacing stare, "That's no way to talk to your elders, boy…" The old man hissed, his voice dried and cracked but still retained the British accent, "but yes…I am Nicholas Flamel…in the rotting flesh."

"Sandra!" Hermione called, "Why did you betray us like this? How do you know Nicholas Flamel?"

"He's…" Sandra wept as the tears rolled down her cheek, "he's my…my…creator."

"Creator?"

"Yes…" Flamel smiled exposing more of his yellow teeth, "An unexpected by-product…I was trying to create another stone…but my foolish wife got in the way…thus Sandra…a perfect…human transmutation."

"You bastard!" Ed cursed.

"You're one to talk…Fullmetal Alchemist…" Flamel hissed, "You also tried human transmutation…but…with disastrous results."

Ed had lowered his head in shame but still felt the great hot swelling anger he had inside him.

"So," Hermione conjectured, "this whole time you've been trying to create a new stone. You were the one releasing the chimeras on Hogwarts!"

"Presumptuous little girl," Flamel insulted, "those were just…experiments…experiments that got loose….experiments that I was…commissioned to do."

"By who?" Harry demanded

Flamel smiled once again, "Wouldn't you like to know? Now…now…that I have…my journal back…and…my key ingredient…I can finish my work."

"Not if we can stop you!" Al said with the defiance of a lion.

"Your bravery…is commendable…" Flamel smiled wickedly, "But…let's see…how you fair…against my prototypes."

Flamel reached for a brick in the fireplace, lightly shoved it, and as he did a great hole opened up underneath the feet of the wizards and alchemists and they fell down…down…down…into the darkness below.

In the darkness below Flamel's castle, the alchemists and wizards opened their eyes finding it very difficult to figure out where they were. All that they had was the sound of each others voices in the darkness.

"Al…" Ed groaned, "…my back…"

"Hold on everyone," Harry called as his hand felt the wooden length of his wand, "Lumos!"

From the tip of Harry's wand came the white light that illuminated the room that they were in. The place was like a dungeon with the thick bricks, slime and filth on the walls and floor, chains hanging from the bricks, but most of all, no windows whatsoever. Harry's attention was brought back to his friends as they moaned trying to find some footing to get up from the human dog pile.

Ed's bones creaked and popped as he stood up straight, looking around at the dungeon that he was in he wasn't going to let such a small set back stop him. Now it was a race against time, to find Flamel before he uses Sandra as simply an ingredient in his plans to create the stone.

"Let's get out of this place!" Ed ordered, "We've got to stop Flamel!"

"Hold on, Ed," Hermione interrupted, "First thing we need is a plan. No doubt if Flamel's both a wizard and an alchemist, there's no telling what kind of traps he has down here."

"She has a point, brother," Al agreed with the young witch.

""But we won't get anywhere by standing around here!" Harry added taking his side with Ed, "Look, there's a doorway over there."

Each of them looked to see an opening in the dungeon brick wall and with the light of Harry's wand; they saw that there was a set of stairs that went upward. Curious and unafraid, Harry and Edward went first. As the two of them reached the steps, Ed remembered the wand he had nearly forgotten about. Pulling it out he recited the spell he learned:

"_Lumos!_" Ed commanded and the tip of his way began to illuminate with the same intensity as Harry's. As the two lights blended together the long dark stairway was a little clearer as the alchemists and wizards continued their journey upward.

The journey was then stopped when at the top of the spiraling staircase was a great stone door with an odd carving in it. The wizards and alchemists recognized it as a transmutation circle but aside from its geometric designs and configuration, it was the symbol in the center that was the most bizarre. It was one that made Ron Weasley shiver to the core of his bones.

"A spider…" He quivered, "Why's it always spiders?"

"Calm down, Ron," Al consoled, "Let's not panic until we know what we're up against."

"But there's no doorknob," Hermione observed.

She was right, despite the intricacy of the door, there was no visible way of going beyond the door. Though Harry and Ed had similar ideas as they raised their wands together to the door and said in unison.

"_Alohamora!_"

At that, there was the sound of stone scraping against stone as the door opened upwards. The light of Harry and Ed's wand had flooded into the room beyond it and they only saw a room similar to the one that they fell into. It was just as circular with another door on the other side, but what was unusual was that the ceiling seemed unusually high. Not giving it a second thought, the wizards and alchemists proceeded to the other side of the room. At least most of them didn't give it a second thought, but Ron Weasley.

Seeing that spider made him, some would say paranoid, but it's with mild justification. Especially during his second, that was the year when he and Harry had barely escaped several thousand spiders in the dark forest. Thinking of that time, Ron started to look up the abnormally high ceiling and with the light of Harry and Ed's wand, his worst fears were realized.

Ron tried to speak to the nearest person to him, Alphonse Elric, about the horror that he had discovered, but he couldn't articulate anything intelligible, but it was enough to get Al's attention.

"What is it, Ron?" Al asked

Ron pointed up with such a terrified look that his face was white as a sheet that contrasted against his red hair. Al looked in the direction that Ron was pointing and he found in the abnormally high ceiling there were strands of white cobwebs and in the center of it all was a giant spider. At least that's what it looked like at first glance, but when Al gave it a better look, the thing was a chimera of different insects, it had the head, legs, and chest of a spider, while it had the wings of a hornet, pincers and tail like that of a scorpion but along it's tail it was stripped like the abdomen of a hornet in black and yellow. Al was going to quietly bring this to the others attention, but the eight eyes of the spider chimera had spotted them and from the scorpion-like tail came the spinnerets of its arachnid part while it came down to face them.

"ED!" Al shouted.

The others didn't need to be told where the thing was coming from; they all looked up and saw the hideous spider chimera bringing itself down to the center of the room. As it did, the alchemists and wizards backed up to the circular wall as the spider snapped its scorpion pincers and brought about its stinger ready to strike with whatever deadly poison it had.

Ed had switched hands to where his wand was placed, he took his stance with the glowing wand in his left hand and he extended his arm-blade on his right arm. While Al knelt down and carefully drew a transmutation circle on the ground keeping his eyes on the spider chimera. With the young wizards holding out their wands to the creature, they were more than ready, except for the strike that the spider made.

The spider chimera had spread out its pincer arms as if it was surrendering to them, but then from its mouth came a white stream that hit Hermione Granger. The white spinneret threads cemented her to the nearby wall and the great inset drew back its tail like it was a fist ready to punch. The tail came down and struck Hermione Granger in the chest, knocking the air out of her lungs as the poison filled her system.

"HERMIONE!" Harry screamed as the spider chimera drew back its tail and started to make its quick decision for the next target.

Looking at the foul thing, Harry hated it more than anything in the world. More than Dudly for his torture, more than Draco for his pompous arrogance, more than Snap, and even more than Voldemort himself. Harry had raised his wand and performed the only spell he knew that would work on this creature.

"_Arania Exime!_" Harry called and another flash of light came from his wand and hit the spider chimera knocking it onto its back.

Edward Elric saw the chance, "AL!" He cried out to his brother as he clasped his hands together.

"Right!" Al answered back as he touched the transmutation circle on the floor.

At the same time, Ed had brought his hand down to the ground where his alchemy met with Al's. The light of both transmutations began to intensify as the floor beneath them changed. Underneath the spider, a series of spikes came from the stones that skewered the creature like a fork into a cocktail shrimp.

Seeing that the spider Chimera was dying as it struggled with the last bit of life it had, the wizards and alchemists had gone to the side of Hermione Granger to find out what her true fate was.

"Hermione…" Harry called as he cupped her face, feeling the warmth that it still had, "Please…come back to me…" Harry began to weep, "Come back…my love…"

"Oh calm down, Harry," Hermione's voice called out.

Everyone looked down and saw Hermione looking up at the wizards and alchemists, but they were quite puzzled and confused by why Hermione was still alive.

"How did you survive that sting?" Ron asked

Ed had a slight hunch, he knelt down and taped on Hermione's shirt and found it to be as solid as wood.

"You used alchemy on your shirt didn't you?" Ed asked.

Hermione sat up and showed the transmutation circle that she had drawn onto her right palm. She smirked knowing that her cleverness had saved her own life.

"I used alchemy to make my shirt have a stronger mesh so that the stinger couldn't penetrate it," she explained, "Now to take care of these webs."

She reached down with the hand that had the circle draw into it, with the alchemist reaction; she dissolved the spiders' webs and got back to her feet. On her feet, she got out her wand and she went to the unopened door of the spider chamber.

"_Alohamora!_" she called and once again the sound of stone scraping ringed out across the room as the door opened.

The wizards and alchemists dashed up the stairs that led up beyond the spiders chamber. At the top of the stairs, they found a very peculiar sight that was too out of place. They found a new door, but this one was wooden. It was just like the doors in the main part of Flamel's Castle, elegantly carved with transmutation circles.

Ed reached forward and turned the knob being cautious of what they might discover on the other side. He opened the door, raised his wand with his arm-blade, and he found that beyond the door was the Great Hall of Flamel's Castle. More specifically, one of the many doors that were on the ground floor of the great hall.

Looking to the right, the wizards and alchemists saw the open door that led to the library. They needed no further sign and they dashed over to the library, but still being careful not to fall into the same trap twice. Inside the library, they saw that the hole that they fell through was closed, but Flamel was nowhere to be found.

"Where could he have gone?" Ed asked aloud.

"Maybe he's in another part of the castle," Ron speculated.

"If he was," Al said, "then why was this door left open?"

"Probably to throw us off his trail," Hermione guessed.

"No," Ed shook his head, "Guys like Flamel think that they can plan for everything but they eventually screw up somewhere. There has to be a clue somewhere in here."

Even though ti was less than fifteen minutes ago, it felt like it had happened last week as Al thought back to their confrontation with Flamel. He thought about how he opened the hole that sent them down to the dungeons and the spider chimera. How did he do it?

"The wall," Al said.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Flamel pushed something in the wall to open the trap," Al answered.

"What of it?" Ron asked.

"Flamel might have an escape route in this room," Al explained.

"How?" Hermione asked

Al paused for a moment thinking what Flamel could do to get out of this room and yet still leave that library door open. He then turned to his brother with a greatly ingenious idea.

"The glasses, brother," Al said to Ed, "Do you still have those see-through glasses with you?"

Ed searched his pockets but did find the glasses; he had them in his school robes since yesterday afternoon when Al came to see him. Having the glasses in hand, Ed immediately slipped them on following Al's thinking that there might be a secret passageway in the library. Through the lenses of the enchanted glasses, he watched as the layer of the physical world had slipped away and he looked into the emptiness beyond. He looked to the fireplace and saw the switch that Flamel used to send them down to the spider. Seeing that, he frantically looked around for a similar switch and it was a matter of seconds when he saw something in one of the book cases.

He pulled the glasses off and walked over to the one bookcase where he saw something that was out of place. Coming closer, he realized what it was the old book case trick, that all what someone had to do was pull a book from a shelf and there would be a secret passageway. Yet, to Ed's great dismay, the book was out of his reach.

"Man," Ed groaned as his fingers only reached the bottom of the shelf that the book sat upon, "I hate being short."

"I got it, brother," Al offered as he came over to Ed's side and looked up at the bookcase, "which book is it?"

Ed looked up the bookcase and slipped on the glasses to find that false book once again. He kept his eye on the false book as he pulled off the glasses and read the title as it came into view.

"Beginning alchemy," Ed read the title to his brother with a smirk.

Al looked and instantly found the book _Beginning Alchemy_, he reached up and pulled the book finding that only the top part of the book could be pulled out into an angle. Pulling upon the top edge, Al heard a loud click like a door latching shut, but as he did, the bookcase began to sink into the floor revealing something that was hidden behind it.

Once again, to their surprise, it wasn't a hallway or a staircase that was behind that bookshelf, it was more like a small hidden closet with the bookcase as its door. Yet, there was nothing inside that hidden closet except a small wooden podium with an open book set on it. Even the book made the whole situation seem even more bizarre. The young wizards and alchemists looked closer at the exposed pages of the book and found that there were no words written or illustrations drawn in it's pages. There was only one , and it was just a small picture that was moving within its frame like a wizards photograph. Yet, inside the photo there was a tall building that looked like the rook piece in chess.

Without even thinking about the results of his actions, as he usually did, Edward Elric reached out to touch the photograph in the exposed book, and as his fingers touched the photograph, he vanished.

Ed opened his eyes to find himself in the most bizarre of surroundings. It was like a hallway with high brick walls except it was so bright that he looked up and saw the bright blue sky above him with a few clouds dotting it. He looked behind him and saw a wooden podium and an open book just like the one that he found in that secret cabinet behind Flamel's bookcase. Yet looking at the open page of that book the picture inside was different it had in its borders the library as if he was looking through someone else's eyes as they walked through that library. Ed looked away from the book and down the length of the non-ceiling hallway; there was the rook-like tower at the end surrounded by the same high brick walls exposed to the open air.

Yet, as he looked at the tower, he saw something in the windows. At first the opening in the side of the tower were dark but then began to glow, it was a red light that was emanating from them as if every light in that tower was red. As each second passed the light grew brighter until Ed knew that something was unnatural about it all. He panicked and began to dash towards the tower.

As he made the dash for it, he heard the loud cry of his brother and friends.

"Ed!" Al called to him, "Wait up!"

Ed looked back for a split moment to see Al, Harry, Ron, and Hermione at the end of the no ceiling hallway. They were dashing trying to catch up with Ed.

"There's no time!" Ed called out as he looked back at the tower whose red light was growing in its luminous intensity, "Sandra's in danger!"

With all that Ed had tried, it still wasn't enough for the red light had finally consumed the tower. It had gotten to the point where the wizards and alchemists had to cover their eyes. They were expecting some kind of explosion to happen from the bright light, but nothing came. The light only grew bright and then faded away as if it was the light of a sunset. He looked to the direction of the tower, but saw that it was gone. There was nothing left of it, just a large crater of charred Earth like the remnants of a blazing fire.

"No," Ed whispered as he looked towards the direction of the crater, "not again…"

It was true déjà vu all over again, just like the time before…back in…_Heissgart…Professor Eiselstein…the Philosopher's Catalyst…and…Armony. _Ed stepped up to the edge of the crater and fell to his knees.

"Why…" He wept, "Why does this keep happening? Why couldn't I stop it this time?"

The others had gathered around Ed, feeling the enormous pain in their hearts to see him like that, but most of all because of the loss of their friend, Sandra Locke. Especially, Harry Potter who had all the talent and power that a young wizard could have and yet there were people he couldn't save. He too felt like sitting next to Edward Elric with his deepest sympathies and his greatest empathy.

"Ed…" Al had whispered before he felt something, it made him look up and there he saw a thin ray of light coming down to meet the crater. Upon the light there was a small stone, Al looked closer and saw that the stone was red as blood. It came down to the crater as softly as a feather until it landed in the charred earth of the crater.

Ed looked up at the red stone and knew right away what it was, it was a Philosopher's Stone, a _true Philosopher's Stone._ Ed crawled his way to the stone and saw that it was glowing like an ember in a fire. He reached out to it and the moment that he touched it, he had a vision.

In the vision, he saw the inside of the laboratory that was inside that tower, there were shelves of books along the walls, but it was in the center that Edward Elric saw the last moments of Sandra Locke. She was lying on a table strapped down like she was about to receive a lethal injection. Then there was Nicholas Flamel who was adding the last few touches to the transmutation circle that was drawn on the floor beneath the table. Sandra was struggling to get loose, but Flamel only laughed at her efforts.

"Resistance is futile, my dear," he cackled at her, "soon you'll become the Philosopher's Stone and I'll live forever!"

Flamel laughed as if he knew that he had already won, but he was too blind by what he thought was victory to see that Sandra wasn't trying to get free. She was only trying to loosen herself just enough to pull a small piece of cloth from her sleeve. She unfolded it with one hand and inside it was a single seed but there was also Sandra's signature transmutation circle in it. She touched the circle and the transmutation began. The seed began to sprout and to Ed's great surprise as he watched it was a flower he had only seen once back in Heissgart. It was the white Ehterflower. As the flower bloomed it fell to the floor where Flamel's circle lay. The flower caused a new and massive reaction that made the circle enlarge all the way out to the walls themselves trapping both Sandra and Flamel in its borders as the transmutation began.

"_Noooooo!_" Flamel screamed, unable to stop the reaction.

The circle began to glow that same red color that Ed only saw a few minutes ago coming from the towers windows. As the glow of the reaction became bright and brighter Sandra looked up to the ceiling with a smile as if she was truly happy.

"Ed," she whispered, "I wonder…If I were reborn…would I have…another chance of…becoming…your friend?"

It was with that last breath that the light of the transmutation became so much that it ended the vision that the Philosopher's Stone was giving to Ed. As the vision ended, Ed was brought back to reality with the stone in his hands and him on his knees in the crater. He looked to the crimson stone, watched as it began to crack like an ice cube in warm water, and then it shattered into pieces only to evaporate into the open air.

"You idiot…" Ed began to weep, "SANDRA!"

Ed cried as his voice echoed back to him to the dead quiet of the crater where he continued to mourn for another lost apprentice.

To Be Continued…


	12. The Parting of Ways

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter, as well as any other songs or other character references made in this story.

© Fullmetal Alchemist – Hiromo Arakawa

© Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling

**Fullmetal** **Alchemist**

**And the**

**Crimson Stone**

**A Fan Fiction Fusion**

**By**

**Tattoo Alchemist**

**Chapter 12: The Parting of Ways**

The semester was over, and all of Hogwarts was in gossip over what had happened at Flamel's castle as well as a great event that was going to happen at Hogwarts during the summer, the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Of course, all of this talk and gossip was taking place in the Great Hall and everyone seemed excited about the summer except for Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger.

The Great Hall was in decorations of green banners with silver snakes for Slytherin was going to win the house cup that year. Yet, before the last feast began, Albus Dumbledore rose from his chair and called out to the students.

"I have a few last minute points to award!" He announced, "For quick thinking against chimeras…fifty points!"

Harry, Ed, Al, Ron, and Hermione looked up to Dumbledore in surprise, even more to Ed when he looked to one end of the Great Hall and saw his co-workers standing there. Every one of them, Major Armstrong, Lieutenant Hawkeye, and even Colonel Roy Mustang who gave Edward Elric a smirk and a thumbs up to him. Ed looked back at Dumbledore to hear the rest of the announcement.

"For the use of alchemy in the defense of others…fifty points!" Dumbledore continued, "For showing true friendship and love in the direst of times…fifty points! And for compassion and self-sacrifice…one-hundred points! And now I believe there's a need for a change of decoration!"

Dumbledore clapped his hands and the banners overhead had instatntly changed from the green and silver of Slytherin to the red and gold of Gryffindor.

"Gryffindor wins the House Cup!" Dumbledore called and all around the Gryffindor table, they cheered while those at the Slytherin Table simply sulked in their defeat.

Even though there was reason enough to celebrate, Edward and Alphonse Elric had no reason to celebrate. All of it was too painful, too much had been lost. Ed started to wonder about the principle of Equivalent Exchange, with all that's been lost, what has been gained by it all? Why were they to suffer so much like that? In the end, Ed had to put on his smile so as not to worry his friends who were lost in their celebration of winning the House Cup.

The mood in the cabin on board the Hogwarts Express bound for Kings Cross Station was down right sullen. Even though there was excitement of the Tri-Wizard Tournament as well as the much talked about Quidditch World Cup where Ireland would be the home team they'd be rooting for. With all that, Ed and Al seemed to show no such interest in what was happening. Ed only sat with his face on his open palm as he looked out the window at the passing scenery.

"Come on, Ed," Ron called to him, "Cheer up for once!"

"Leave him alone, Ron," Harry interjected.

"Why?" Ron asked, "I'm only trying to cheer him up."

"He tried to save a girls life, Ron," Hermione explained, "We've saved lives but haven't lost, but Ed…"

"That's enough, Hermione," Al interrupted, "The best thing is to leave him alone."

But Hermione didn't listen.

"Ed," Hermione called, "I wanted to save this until we got to London, but perhaps now is a better time."

Ed turned slowly to face Hermione, his face filled with such sadness as he asked:

"What is it, Hermione?"

Hermione held out a letter that was sealed with red wax and stamped with the letter "L". As she held it out to Ed, she explained:  
"It's a letter addressed to you…from Sandra."

The pain in Ed's heart worsened, he felt as if he truly was cursed with how much the past year was nothing more than a repeat of what happened in Heissgart. He felt that there was no way to avoid or escape the curse so he decided to meet the repetition head on.

"Al," Ed called, "Would you read it?"

"Sure, brother," Al agreed as he took the letter, he broke the wax seal, took the letter out and began to read it aloud.

_Dear Ed,_

_I know that my time is short, so I will try to be as brief as possible. You may read this letter after I am gone and I want to tell you why I did what I did. It was ever since the beginning of February that I had learned the truth of my existence from Flamel's Journal, yes, I did sneak into your room and take the journal, Ed, I'm sorry. At first, Flamel sent me to Hogwarts to find it for him, but that was before I found out the truth about me. As soon as I did, I knew that I couldn't let Flamel create another Philosopher's Stone. This was the reason I stole the journal. I truly and sincerely hope you can forgive me for what I've done. _

_But, with the truth revealed, I really didn't care, because the happiest moments of my artificial life were with you, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and even Al. I was happy being Sandra Locke, Fourth Year Gryffindor, with you I learned Equivalent Exchange, and I hope that principle will apply to what actions I take, that by my sacrifice I can keep the power of the stone out of the wrong hands. _

_I know that sounds self-rightous, but I believe any of you would do the same had our positions been switched. So now, I end this letter with this…_

_Good-bye my dear friends, Alphonse Elric, Harry Potter – Scar Alchemist, Ron Weasley – Luck Alchemist, Hermione Granger – Paper Alchemist, and Edward Elric – Fullmetal Alchemist, my greatest teacher. _

_- Sandra_

The cabin was silent as Al finished reading the letter and putting it back into its envelope. As he did, Ed reached over and stuffed the letter into his pocket as if it were a secret that he didn't want to share with anyone.

"Had she lived," Hermione spoke up, "She would have become a great witch and alchemist."

"Please, everyone," Al asked, "The best thing to do is to leave him alone for now."

The long train ride was very quiet as everyone simply fell asleep as if they had the longest days of their lives. Ed slept against the window, with Al sitting across from him. Harry and Hermione slept against each other, with their hands interlocked with one another as if they never wanted to let go. Ron slept opposite of them, his sweets half eaten, and resting in his lap.

The scarlet red Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross station with the parents of the students waiting for them on the platform. While in the cabin, Ed, Al, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were as quiet as ever while they gathered their trunks and headed out onto the platform. As they came out to the platform, they met some very familiar faces.

First, Edward Elric met the faces of the state Alchemists Major Alex Louis Armstrong, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, Colonel Roy Mustang, and Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Blackadder. Each of them dressed in rather casual clothes, possible to remain inconspicuous in both the wizard and muggle worlds.

Next to the state alchemists were the smiling and familiar faces of Mister and Misses Wasley who were waiting for Ron and his brothers and sisters. Seeing them made Harry, Ron, and Hermione smile, but upon seeing them Misses Weasley called out:

"Oh Ron!" She called as she came over and hugged him turning his face beet red, "I heard about what happened at school and we want to thank you Harry for your help."

"Thank you, Misses Weasley," Harry slightly smiled, "But the credit should go to Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother Alphonse Elric."

Harry presented the Elric brothers, but Misses Weasley was looking toward the towering and armored Alphonse Elric who stood over Misses Weasley like Hagrid.

"My goodness!" Misses Weasley exhaled as she looked up at Alphonse, "you certainly do live up to the name Fullmetal Alchemist."

Instantly Ed's blood boiled as he bounced out from behind Al and shouted, "NO! For the hundred time, that name belongs to me! I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist!"

Misses Weasley looked at Ed for a moment rather shocked but before Ed knew it, he was in the arms of a very grateful mother.

"Thank you for protecting Ron, Edward Elric!" Misses Weasley thanked Ed.

Standing close to the greatful mother, Colonel Roy Mustang had to comment, "Looks like Fullmetal is back to his old self."

As Misses Weasley continued to thank Ed, Harry walked up to Edmund Blackadder who was standing beside several suitcases. He had to ask him a very important question about his position.

"Are you leaving Hogwarts, Professor?" Harry asked.

"As much as it pains me to do so, I must leave," Blackadder answered rather sullenly, "I did enjoy teaching, but I am a state alchemist and my duty is back in my homeland."

Even though Harry hadn't thought that much of Blackadder, after all, he wasn't a great as Professor Lupin, but he wasn't as bad as Professor Lockheart either. Then again, that position at Hogwarts seemed cursed with how many teachers have come and gone within that position. Still, there were bigger things on Harry's mind, such as the Quidditch World Cup as well as the Tri-Wizard tournament that would be coming up during the summer. That was when he wondered if he should go back with the Dursley's, but as if she had read his mind, Hermione offered her solution.

"Harry," She spoke up, "Why not stay at my place during the summer, at least until the World Cup and the Tournament. My parents have wanted to meet you."

Looking at Hermione with new eyes, Harry couldn't turn down such an offer.

"Sure," Harry smiled gladly, "I'll come."

Hermione threw her arms around Harry's neck and kissed his cheek, "Oh, it'll be so good to have you around Harry!"

As Hermione hugest Harry, Misses Weasley had let go of Edward who was starting to feel the blood coming back into his face after she had squeezed so much out of it.

"Fullmetal!" Roy Mustang called.

Ed looked to his superior.

"It's time to leave," Mustang reported

Ed looked at his friends and he never wanted to leave such a place in his whole life. He wanted to stay in the wizard world with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but he then remembered his brother and the promise he made. Even with that, he had to make one final goodbye, but when he turned to face his wizard friends, they were already waiting to make their final farewell to the Fullmetal Alchemist. The first was Hermione who walked over and hugged Edward.

"Good bye, Ed," she smiled with a little tear in her eye, "Here's a good-bye gift from me."

She handed a small stack of books, all of them having the world _Alchemy_ in the title. Ed was surprised at the books especially since he had never come across such books anywhere in the library at central headquarters.

"These are the only books on alchemy in the wizard world," Hermione explained, "I hope you enjoy them."

Ed smiled, "thanks Hermione,"

"And a little something from Honeydukes, Zonkos, and my brothers," Ron added as he handed Ed a small bag, "Some candy to have fun with on the trip back home, but be careful about the ones from Fred and George."

"Knowing those two, I definitely will," Ed heeded Ron's warning.

"And this is from me," Harry said as he gave Ed a thick red leather bound book. It had no title or author on the front of it, which had made Ed curious about it. He opened it up and found photographs in it, wizard photographs of people moving in it. The first photograph was of Ed, Hermione, and Ron at his first Quidditch game.

"It's a little something that I had Collin Creevy put together," Harry explained.

Ed remembered Collin, a funny little boy running around with his wizard's camera taking pictures of everything. Even when it had involved Harry Potter and his friends and that included Edward Elric. As well as how Collin helped into the capture of the "Shrieking Shot" which was in the album as well. Still, even though when Ed and Al burnt their house to the ground to erase all that was familiar, that photo album that Ed held in his hands was one set of memories that he _wanted_ to leave traces. He placed his gifts into his trunk and he turned to his friends, he hugged Hermione, shook Harry and Ron's hands.

"Good-bye my friends," Ed said with regret that he was leaving, "I'll stay in touch that much I can promise you."

"Let's get going chibi," Roy called, "We don't want to miss the boat."

"WHO YOU CALLIN' A SUPER-HYPER-SMALL-CHIBI SO SMALL THAT YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS!" Ed bellowed.

"He really has returned to normal," Al commented before he turned to the young wizards, "Good-bye my friends, I hope to see all of you again soon."

"Try to keep Ed out of trouble," Hermione said as she waved to the departing alchemists.

"I usually do, Hermione," Al waved back as he, Ed, and the others crossed the barrier from Platform 9 ¾ to the rest of King's Cross Station.

From there as the wizards and alchemists parted ways, their futures in front of them were uncertain, filled with dangers, and wonders. Neither of them knew what they would encounter along their chosen paths, but they knew how it would begin; with a journey. Where they would go from there would be up to them.

**The End**

Author's Notes – Tattoo Alchemist

The story began a while back when I had first started to watch "Fullmetal Alchemist", I kept thinking that it would be nice if there was a story where Ed would meet Harry Potter and his friends.

Unfortunately, to my own dismay, I found out that several people had done a fan fiction of this kind at Fan One in particular was written by an author named "Telepika" who had started the story as if Ed was going to be accepted into Hogwarts already. Upon reading it, there were several parts where I was thinking to myself, "I'd do it more like…" or "I think it'd be better if it went more like this…". So, after a few chat sessions with Telepika and Classic Cowboy, I decided that I should start on it since I had so many good ideas for it, but I had to do things differently, not only so it would fit into the story lines of Harry Potter and Fullmetal Alchemist but also have it so that it would be my own kind of fic.

The first issue I changed was to have Edward come back to Central (Which is where I took off from the Fullmetal Alchemist game – "Broken Angel") and from there I felt that it would make more sense that Ed would go to Hogwarts undercover to search for the Philosopher's stone. That already had me involve another Harry Potter character, Nicholas Flamel, even though he's never formally introduced to the readers, only mentioned, which left room to take some fan fiction license.

After that I had made it my greatest effort to try to stay in character. Of course, there would be some who would come after me (even make death threats like Evangelion fans) by making this a Harry/Hermione pairing but I will admit that I'm a bigger fan of Harry/Hermione than the Hermione/Ron pairing, despite how some would say that I'm delusional about it.

Though with the reviews I've received so far, a lot of people had a big problem with Sandra Locke with her being a "Mary Sue" or whatever they call it. Then again, I think that they should try to see it from my point of view since I couldn't use anyone from either FUllmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter to fill that kind of slot, so therefore I had to create a character out of thin air purely to fill this slot. Of course, I'm sure that my most vocal naysayer "Miroku-has-darkness" will have a lot to say about that. Especially since he caught on that I had used the game "Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel", then again, understand once again that it was the best place that I could put in this adventure for Edward Elric.

In the end I wanted to write this fic to see how it would turn out with my hand and mind at the pen. Looking at it now, I think it turned out wonderfully, and it is my fondest hope that the readers would enjoy it as much (hopefully more) than the other Harry Potter/Fullmetal Alchemist stories out there.

Supplies used:

1x 120 page college ruled notebook

1x 180 page college ruled notebook

5x pilot Vball grip pens

5x months work.

Tattoo Alchemist

Thursday, September 15, 2005


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